Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate

Simply put, "Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate" is an opus. Lord K. Philipson (with help from Peter S. Freed) have written and arranged the most beautiful and [coincidentally] the most destructive industrial tinged progressive death metal album ever written. If you like your death metal epic and superfluous, then waste no time, pick this album up right now.

I don't usually do something like this, but let's actually go through track 1 ("Hate") and dissect it to get a better understanding of what The Project Hate MCMXCIX is doing here. At just over nine minutes, it will give us plenty of good material to discuss.

The song opens with some majestic sounding strings. I'm sure they're done on keyboard, but they sound very full, and sound pretty real in my honest opinion. 0:14 some additional strings come in, these much more shrill and unsettling. At 0:28 it starts getting really interesting as the drums come in, shortly followed by a basic keyboard lead and one of the dirtiest, grimiest guitar sounds you'll ever hear (the bass sludgy, and sounding wonderful). This continues until 1:01. At that point everything stops and we are left with the guitar riffing, and the drums playing the china to keep beat. This section is nice because, a: I love chinas, and b, it's a simplistic, yet quite effective transition. What are we transitioning to? The same music that started at 0:28, only this time Jörgen Sandström has joined us with his demonic and husky grunts. At 1:41 the guitars, bass, and drums stop and we have an angelic string and keyboard/piano section. There are also some foreboding drones going on in the background. At 1:58 they all return, playing a different riff this time, accompanied by Jonna Enckell on vocals. She sounds pure and delicate. At this point strings are also reintroduced. At 2:32 we go back into the main riff (from 0:28), Jörgen Sandström leading the way. At 3:04 we go back to the section with Jonna Enckell. At 3:37 we go into a new riff, and at 3:53 a simple solo is added for good effect. At 4:09 it all stops and the strings play alone; they sound very disheartening. This is shortly followed by a new riff (and some faint low & high strings) with Jonna Enckell singing. At 4:44 it all stops and we get a computerized sounding keyboard lead. At 5:01 guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, and a sample of someone speaking is added into the mix. At 5:17 Jörgen Sandström begins bellowing "hate". At 5:31 we get the same strings as we got at 4:09 (and a whispered "I fucking hate you"). This shortly followed again by the same riff (that followed the strings at 4:09), however, Jonna Enckell sings with a bit more gusto than she did previously. This was enjoyable because it took something we've already heard, and put a new spin on it - even if it something as basic as that, it really does make a difference. At 6:06 we get the same riff as at 3:37, and at 6:21 we get another solo. This one is a little flashier, and a bit more intense. At 6:36 we go into a new riff with just the guitars, bass, and drums. Here we are introduced to a new vocalist (I'm guessing it's Lord K. Philipson, though Emperor Magus Caligula, of Dark Funeral and Hypocrisy fame, does backing vocals throughout the recording, so I can't be sure) screaming "Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate" two times thorough (with the last "Eliminate" having a distorted computerized effect on them). At 6:52 the riff continues, but this time a lot more full. At 7:09 we return to the section that was played at 5:01 (this time with no sample). At 7:23 we get the same strings section from 4:09 and 5:31, shortly followed by another new riff, and vocals from Jonna Enckell. At 7:41 we get a nice hearty guitar squeal and the same riff continues, but with more up-tempo drums. At 7:55 we return to the riff that was introduced at 0:28, with Jörgen Sandström again on vocals. At 8:27 the music changes to higher notes, but plays the same basic riff. Then at 8:44 the guitar and bass get a little more chug-chug. At 9:00 the music stops and we are left with a resonating, distorted rumbling sound. The song ends at 9:05.

Now, I didn't describe absolutely everything that happened over that nine minutes and five seconds, as there was just too much to describe (the various backing vocals being the most obvious thing left untouched). However, the main focal points were pretty well mentioned. Moving on, let's discuss some observations. Firstly, there's a lot of transitioning, most of the time these transitions are very abrupt. However, I didn't find these abrupt transitions to be startling, or annoying. Somehow, they didn't affect the flow for me at all. Secondly, there's a lot of layering. At most points in the song, there's drums, bass, guitars, strings, and keyboards. These instruments are rarely playing the same thing. There is probably a lot of instrumentation that I don't even realize I'm hearing (because I can only consciously hear so much). This layering of instruments does a really good job of creating a illustrious and epic sound. Thirdly, while there's many different riffs throughout the song, we often return to riffs played earlier. This is something that I found to be highly pleasurable. There's nothing worse than hearing a good riff in a song, only for it to stop and never be returned to. Also, this keeps from the riffs becoming banal or boring (due to repetition). The various spacing of these riffs (and the riffs when they are returned to) was also nice (as it didn't come off as formulaic). Lastly, I just wanted to note all of the different vocals they have going on. We have Jörgen Sandström with his death metal grunts, we have Jonna Enckell with her tranquil female vocals, and we also have various, and more serpentine sounding, death metal background vocals (most notably at 6:36). These many different sounding vocals sound great together because of their complete contrast from each other.

The guitars, in general, are nothing flashy. They chug along most of the time letting the vocals (and the effect of multiple layers) carry the songs. The bass is nice and low (the word muddy comes to mind), making the dirty sounding riffs even dirtier. It's nothing explicitly exceptional, but it definitely is a bigger factor than what you can actually hear. The guitar and bass do a lot of the heavy lifting on this album. The drums are amazing. They are actually programmed by Lord K. Philipson, which if you hear how real they sound, is quite unbelievable. They do a lot of interesting things. They are full of flashy fills, constant jumps in tempo, lots of cymbals, and border on obvious inhumanness (border being the keyword). They're regularly changing, which I enjoyed. The various vocals are an intricate composite, and pretty emotional to boot (you can almost feel their disdain). The keyboards/strings are the silent bridge that brings the album from one side of the river to the other. At times they're very obvious, and other times they sit in the background. Regardless they turn "Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate" from a progressive death metal album into a ambitious and dynamic album that would fit perfectly as the soundtrack to some glorious fantasy saga (especially if it were about a war between Christians and their detractors).

All in all, this is one of the best albums I have ever heard. The Project Hate MCMXCIX's other releases are of similar quality, but in my opinion none of them are nearly as refined as "Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate". This album is unquestionably their crowning achievement.

The Project Hate has had a rough history with record labels. Specifically, Massacre. They did nothing to promote their first two albums in any way, shape or form. Besides their shitty label, the music was still heard through downloading and with little to no promotion, the band still sold a nice amount of albums.

“Cybersonic SuperChrist” was their debut album, and it made quite an impact on many. Techno, death metal, a great male vokillist and a soothing female vocalist? That’s a recipe for Domination. They then released “When We Are Done, Your Flesh Will Be Ours” which got them a little more attention and blew many away. Then, the live album! I don’t know many bands who put out a live album for their 3rd release, and even when their first two releases didn’t get much promotion from the label. “Killing Hellsinki” was recorded live in Finland through the soundboard. Though, the female vocals done then by Mia Ståhl were at times hard to hear, the rest of the band made up for it to say the least.

Now, the time has come. The time to Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate. The Project Hate is back and better than fucken ever with their newest album “Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate”. The first album with their new vocalissa, Ms. Jo, and their first with guest vocals from Emperor Magus Caligula of Dark Funeral, ex-Hypocrisy. And what a nice addition, I hope he participates more in the future.

8 Tracks of pure domination clocking in a little over 70 minutes, proving that you don’t need 666 tracks to make a good album. You need quality fucken music, and that’s what TPH brings you. It starts off with “Hate” which gets you ready for what you’re about to experience. It even has a nice guitar solo! Which is a first I believe from TPH. Right after that is my favorite track “Nailed” and it will probably be your favorite as well. Why? Because its fucken “Nailed”! The low growls on this track cannot be matched. It is a masterpiece. Everyone contributes vocaly to this song, even Mazza!

The song “Deviate” has a nice little sample from the movie “Frailty” and it fits nicely with the song. Aside from “Nailed” there is another track I hold above the rest, and that is the 12-minute Christian killing spree anthem “Burn”. This song is fast compared to other TPH tracks and will surely cause a nice sized mosh pit. What’s great about this track is the vocal wars between Emperor Magus Caligula of Dark Funeral, Mogge of 2 Ton Predator and Satan Incarnate himself, Jorgen. Ms. Jo is also awesome on this track, as she is in all the others, but her real talent is displayed on the last track..

“Weep” closes the album, and what a fucken song it is. After you hear this, you will know why Ms. Jo is 666 times better than their old vocalissa and you will realize the beauty of this dark angel’s voice. Rarely can you find a beautiful woman such as Jonna with a voice as amazing as hers, and to find it in a band with one of, if not, the best growler Jörgen Sandström! And on an album with guest vocals from a person who growled his ass off on Hypocrisy’s first album and screeches his ass off with Dark Funeral.

Overall, this album is a must have. The growling, the singing, the guitars, and the sound are the best TPH has ever done. The songs have more groove and structure thanks to the not-so-new TPH member Mazza. This album is already released in Europe and if all goes well, you can buy this album at probably any record store in the US. And thats a first for TPH albums!

Hail Lord K, Hail Jörgen, Hail Ms. Jo, Hail Mazza, Hail Emperor Magus Caligula, Hail Mogge, Hail Rickard, Hail Threeman, Hail SATAN! This band has created a work of art with bloodstained hands. Resistance is fucken futile.