Eternal Damnation

An early EP from Abyssic Hate, "Eternal Damnation" is a misanthropic spitfire blast of extremely raw and hateful anti-Christian black metal. A throwaway grinding machine intro is scant preparation for the full-on roar of distorted guitar whine, paper-thin programmed blast beats and goblin snarl vocals. There is just one speed for most tracks: the recording is set on "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!" mode. Thereafter it's all we can do to keep up with the steaming minimalist guitar drones and percussion flaying. Wisely AH Shane Rout does not sing along with the music - he merely intones the lyrics above the maelstrom.

There's not much to distinguish each track from its predecessor, apart from the introduction, so we may as well all sit back and enjoy the ride as Rout's knight of the living dead charges out to scourge the world of the Christian plague and ... well, rout its high priests and their sheeple followers, and send them all into the deepest recesses of Hell. You wonder why Rout even needs to pause between tracks when he could just keep on going with the manic rhythms and streaming guitar buzz. The sudden breaks tend to stop the flow and a little momentum is lost each time.

The pity here is that the music doesn't reflect the narrative of the lyrics which have a definite beginning, ascent, climax and closure. There are few distinct riffs or melodies and, with the pace as unchanging as it is, the music actually gives the impression of standing still. The only track that stands out is the last, "The Victory is Ours", this being an Absurd cover. That in itself doesn't say a great deal for the standard of song composition on the rest of the EP.

I guess the good thing about this recording is that Rout got it off his chest and it was best done sooner rather than later.

This has to be regarded as the first work of Shan Rout in "professional" territory. Released by Darker Than Black Records, limited to 500 handnumbered copies, that was a pain to find.

Well, the mcd we have here was re-released, and remasterised on A Decade Of Hate album, so if you already have A Decade Of Hate, no needs to track this down really.

What we have on this MCD is pure early Abyssic Hate, with fast buzzing guitars, blast beats, burzum vocals. The MCD is only 21 minutes long and the music is good enough that you want more.

Knights Of The Living Dead is one of my all-time favorite song by Abyssic Hate, overall this is a pretty good MCD.

If you can find it, get it, otherwise stick to the remasterised version on A Decate Of Hate, which sounds a lot better than this MCD. I don't see any real annoying flaws about it though, besides the length of it.

That's unfortunate that Shane Rout doesn't involved himself more with Abyssic Hate. Last labum offered is Suicidal Emotions in 2000...
I hope to hear more of this stuff.