Ixone
I think I’ve reached a point in my… listening of extreme metal if you will, where the wisest thing I can do is go against what my gut tells me about an album. What that actually translates as is: The more I put off listening to an album because I’m not sure that it will be good, the better that album is going to be when I actually manage to get over myself and actually listen to it. I guess that’s one way to avoid complacency in the realms of music… but I digress.
Handful of Hate is one of those bands that I had previous knowledge of, but, for no reason other than my inability to keep track of every band I come across, legendary acts included, they happen to fly under the radar, at least until now. All that being said, their upcoming full length, Soulless Abominations is a force to be reckoned with in every sense of the world. Think…violent black metal done the way it’s supposed to: well-produced without being overly polished, all out, in your face bluntness, a vocal performance and instrumentation that is never afraid to go all out… Put all that together and you get Soulless Abominations. The main themes of the album are reflected in this approach. What themes you may ask? In the band’s own words: “misanthropy, sexual deviance and hatred for Christianity”. Black metal wise… you can’t go wrong with those.
Now one thing I want to bring up, and this should be expected given my utterly predictable focus patterns, is, of course, the vocal performance. Typically, I tend to prefer strange or unpredictable vocal styles, and although there are a lot of cases of more traditional techniques being used in an effective manner, there’s just as many that fall flat. And it seems that Handful of Hate truly caught me off-guard in this case because this album is, vocally speaking, high pitched screeching front to back. And there’s not one boring moment. The phrasing and the sheer force employed in delivering some of the lyrics is beyond impressive, and it shows up best during tracks like “Gall Feeder” or even “Libera Me”, the opening track. Truth being told, the very first scream in the latter was enough to make me rethink my expectations.
Something that impressed me equally as much, was, of course, the drumming, partly because I have a soft spot for over the top drumming, the kind that sits at the forefront of an album, and also because while undoubtedly intense and teeming with blast beats, it is still used in a very tasteful manner. The dynamics that form in the riffing and the song structure as a whole are skillfully emphasized by shifts in technique and pacing, thus offering each track and the album as a whole a sense of balance and cohesiveness.
All that being said, now it is time to discuss the guitar work, and just as in the case of every other element of the music, I have nothing critical to say about it. It is punishing, while also being well thought out in a way that highlights the unforgiving nature of the album instead of mellowing it out. The best example of this can be found on the song “Skinless Salvation”, a goldmine of storm-like riffs that push forward the music with striking intensity. All I can add to that is… listen and see for yourself. To close things off, I feel that it is worth mentioning that I may be biased given that Soulless Abominations is the kind of album that stylistically is right up my alley. That being said, it serves as another reason for all of you reading to go check it out and see for yourselves whether I was bluffing or not.
Label: Dusktone
Release date: January 23, 2026
Website: https://www.facebook.com/handfulofhateofficial/
Country: Italy
Score: 4.5/5.0 (this score has been nerfed because Ixone broke the rules written in the About section!)
Metal Eclipse Reviews 