Propagation of Chaos

Germany is known for their black metal scene. The country is host to some of the best black metal acts the world has seen. It's a strong scene and it's growing. The amount of black metal bands poking their heads up into the limelight these days is just incredible. As a fan of the genre, one can only praise the efforts of the worlds musicians as they look to strengthen the genre they love just as much as I claim I do. With acts like Inhuman Hate, the scene is looking bright in terms of the future. However, the one thing we're all trying to avoid these days appears to be the dreaded bedroom bands. Those bands that have such poorly recorded material, you can barely hear a thing. Though, in a sense, that is how black metal was created back in the day. Lo-fi production. Enough static to shock the life out of a human being. Inhuman Hate are definitely not one of those bedroom acts, thankfully. This is a well refined black metal band, with hints of the depressive sub-genre in them.


'Propagation Of Chaos' is the debut and a strong one at that. It's pretty much everything you'd expect from a black metal release. It has a mixed variety of tones and textures, especially on the guitar work. I noticed that the multi-talented H. takes control of not only the guitars, but the drums and the vocals. His performance has to be noted as the strongest on the album with only I. taking control of another instrument, that being the bass. The guitars are the main feature of any black metal band. The type of riffs here are hard to define. Why? Because Inhuman Hate seem, at first, just your standard black metal act. Something that we may have seen in the mid 1990's. Standard tremolo picking at a variety of speeds. From slow tempos to a much faster tempo. The riffs are what is hard to define. There are instances where the guitar work will sound similar to what was produced in the mid 1990's, as I said, but as I also mentioned earlier, there is an element of depressive black metal on this record.


The slowly constructed riffs are pivotal to the album, 'Propagation Of Chaos'. The slow development of the album is key to connecting with the audience. The musicianship is top notch here. Inhuman Hate have obviously thought long and hard about how to construct their music. Slow riffs, a generally slow bassline plugging away in the back and vocals which aren't overbearing in the slightest. The vocals are seemingly dulled down, which in essence suits the music a lot. A faster style of rasping vocals would be considered uncharacteristic to the album, so consideration has gone into the making of this record. What I find so appealing about this record, 'Propagation Of Chaos' is, of course, the riffs. That tremolo style of despondent, discouraged and dreary riffs is thought provoking. The vocals aren't anything special, but they can be looked passed. The same goes for the bass, in reality. The percussion isn't incredibly inventive, but neither is the guitar work. The repetitive style of 'Propagation Of Chaos' rejects the idea of invention right from the beginning. This doesn't detract from the album in any way, so it's rather irrelevant. The soundscapes, which are full of sorrowful depiction's, are strong enough to stand alone. This is a solid debut from an obscure German act.