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1.  Rebirth
2.  The Eternal Ruler
3.  Thorns of Acacia
4.  Haunting Abound
5.  The Art of Redemption
6.  Phoenix Amongst the Ashes
7.  Deathveil
8.  Hatesworn
9.  Lake Ablaze
10.  The Fire of Resurrection

Total playing time:  41:06

Release Date: May 10, 2011
Label: Metal Blade Records

Hate Eternal - Phoenix Among the Ashes

Reviewer: Jesse

October 24, 2011

It’s difficult to get anything more than a lukewarm response or opinion from someone when you mention Hate Eternal. Occasionally you find a hater or two and sometimes you even stumble upon a diehard fan, but the consensus reaction I’ve encountered since I first heard King of All Kings back almost a decade ago is that of a disinterested shrug of the shoulders. It’s understandable for the most part seeing as Hate Eternal have never done anything to stand apart from the crowd and only seem to satisfy the most basic of urges to hear relentlessly fast and blasting death metal. An urge most will admit is quickly satiated after only a handful of songs from whichever band it is you choose in this style. Eric Rutan does throw in his trademark solos here and there, but brutal blastery for forty minutes is essentially what they’re known for.

So here I am, prepping my shoulders for another round shrugging disinterestedly as the new Hate Eternal disc comes my way, when instead I’m actually raising my eyebrows in moderate astonishment. Not that Phoenix Among the Ashes is anything other than Hate Eternal, but a few immediate remedies were instantly noticeable. For one, the thick, muddy production of previous albums is amazingly clear this time around. The drums finally have a natural and organic sound instead of the thick, muddled sound from the last two albums at the very least. With such furious double bass thundering, it seemed like a Hate Eternal album was doomed to forever have that rumbling sound trying to pawn itself off as the drumming instead of actual clarity from that instrument. Secondly and no offense meant towards Mr Rutan, but the solos add focus to the songs for once instead of just injecting themselves with no direction at all. Even amidst the chaos and the relentless assault of the songs, Phoenix Among the Ashes has more personality than any previous album as plenty of melody and time shifts were used along with clearly the most memorable riffs to date for Hate Eternal. “Haunting Abound” might be the most adventurous song in their arsenal. It makes the album for me.

“The Art of Redemption” has probably the most annoying intro in the history of death metal, or maybe even in music period. It honestly sounds like boss music from some ancient NES game. Sorry, but Kid Icarus was the first thing to come to mind. I don’t really know what the point of that was, but just because you can shred those uber high notes on your guitar doesn’t mean you needed to find a way to use it on a song. Please don’t do that again. Otherwise, the song is another great example of a solo used right creating a highly memorable song.

Even with the attempts at adding variation and cleaning up the sound, I’m sure most people will still just hear the same old Hate Eternal on this album and they wouldn’t exactly be wrong. But for those who are willing check any preconceived notions at the door and lend a trained ear to Phoenix Among the Ashes, it’s abundantly clear that Rutan and company made a passionate effort to possibly, and hopefully, morph Hate Eternal into something more than just a background blasting death machine.