Hating Life – Revenge From Beyond

Revenge From Beyond is the debut EP from Spanish death metal duo Hating Life. Before we look deeper into this six-tracker EP let me tell you an interesting fact about Hating Life. ‘Hating Life’ stands for one of Grave earliest and gnarliest demo days classics, later on re-recorded on their immortal debut Into The Grave, later on once again used as the title of their fourth full-length, back in 1996.

Another interesting, and pretty unusual thing for a death metal band, is that the guitar player and founding member of Ataraxy (one of the Spain’s most respected and relentless old-school death metal outfits), Santiago Cavero does all the instrumental parts of the album as the guitars, the bass, the drums and even the piano. Javier Manzano, also an Ataraxy comrade, stands for the vocals. Thus, Javi stands for both the lyrical content (thematically embracing death metal’s fixation on violence, barbarism and mortality), but also for a low-end/lo-fi cavernous and brutal death growls. On the other hand, the guitars and drums of Santi are mainly focused on atmosphere and depressing melodies, while remaining the punishing and rough nature of the genre. The title track features some tremendous and fantastically fast drumming, while the grand finale “The Sense Of Fear” is the song from this EP that represents all the band’s musical philosophy and musical signature sound.

All through the Revenge From Beyond duo from Zaragoza manages to create an effective balance of aggressive energy and dark atmospheric moments. The production is cavernous, rough and raw, emphasizing a filthy, dark and swampy atmosphere as described above. Revenge From Beyond is featuring a cover artwork by acclaimed artist Luxi Lahtinen (Convulse, Incantation, Galvanizer, etc).

Despite of the fact that Revenge From Beyond is just their debut EP, I still think it has a great potential, as generally speaking, this EP is enjoyable, varied, focused and crushing opus, providing 25-minutes of an old-school dirty and raw death metal sonic assault. It is clear that Revenge From Beyond is a strong debut that delivers exactly what it expected, without necessarily innovating or introducing anything groundbreaking. From its Grave-laden opening to the title track’s crawling menace, the release wears its influences proudly while standing firmly in the present.

Recommended for fans of; obviously Grave, Autopsy, Tormented, Asphyx, Entombed, and for all fans of classic and unapologetic death metal of the late 80s and early 90s. From Into The Grave to Revenge From Beyond, all in the name of fuckin’ death metal! For more info on this putrid and raw six-tracker visit their bandcamp.