Even If You Die a Thousand Times

I know I do, and that's why bands like this are an immediate draw for me. I've commented before on the seemingly unhinged quality that plenty of South American bands possess and how much of a joy it is to listen to such genuinely depraved-sounding metal. Hadez are one of the three or four bands from peru that I know and they're definitely a lot stranger, sloppier and filthier than Mortem on their records, for example, but not really as good.

However, in a way this is a different type of metal. Hadez, like older bands, straddles the line between black and death metal, or at least they used to. This time around though, they come down more on the death metal side of things, and in some ways this album is a little more regimented and, I suppose, musically coherent, when compared to their incredibly dark and twisted debut. Having said this, the vocals are about as far from regimented and controlled as one could imagine.

The intro is a strange, drony piece done on what sounds like a hamond organ fed through some kind of effect to make the standard oscilations of the instrument sound "bent" and sickening. I always get a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach when I hear this and the piece lasts for longer than usual. When the metal actually begins you have no time at all in which to say: "wow, cool riffs!" before your belted in the face by some of the most caustic, barbaric vocals I can ever recall hearing. There are actually a few different styles employed here, which is nice, but the majority of the vocal delivery is made up of a kind of gargly, teeth-gritting sneer or snarl with vowel sounds drawn out to an intense degree. There's no denying that they sound ugly as hell and will turn off a lot of people. Sometimes they're even multi-tracked, which leads even me to step back from my stereo in wary trepidation, and I like the singing!

I think it's evident that the band has been listening to quite a lot of Morbid Angel, because I can hear Trey Azagtoth's influence here in a way that never seemed too pervasive on the debut. This is the reason I eluded to countrymates Mortem earlier, as the latter band definitely bares a heavy Morbid Angel influence on all their recordings. Where Mortem seems to channel Morbid Angel's chops, though, Hadez goes more for the necronomic atmosphere, certain riff reminiscences and also a proverbial stench of evil similar to what you might find on "Altars of Madness" and the 80s demos of the American band. There's actually a second "make or break" element to Hadez's music on "Even if you Die a Thousand Times", and that's the guitar solos, which appear in just about every song at least once and are often very long. I admit that they are quite funny sounding, and while I don't really have the guitar knowhow to describe exactly why, it almost sounds like someone trying to parodise the death metal lead playing styles of certain axemen, particularly one Trey Azagtoth. The man is obviously skilled, but it sounds as though he's just possessed here or out of his mind drunk, vomiting seemingly random (and very rapidly played) notes all over the high end of the fretboard, throwing in ridiculous wammy bar abuse and those squealy "divebomb" type noises that old-school death metal guitarists were so fond of. There was some of this "lead guitar orgy" on the band's debut but it seems a lot more excessive somehow here. According to the insert, the lead guitarist was a session member for this album (although he's listed as a former member on metal-archives, which makes me suppose he was fully in the fold at one time or other) so I wonder how much thought actually went into constructing these wankfests. I've made some seemingly disparaging comments here, but the truth is that, like with the vocals, I kind of appreciate the soloing for its sheer over-the-top quality, although it seem perhaps the least sincere aspect of the music and objectively the band probably should have toned them down somewhat. If I've really failed to elucidate exactly what's so discomforting, and yes, funny, about the soloing, I'll just have to say that the only way to understand is to listen to the album. A cop-out, but what do I know, I'm just a drummer!

Finally, what Hadez gives us here isn't all brash speed and extremity. The band actually does some very cool things with melody, usually in bridge sections or as the songs draw to a conclusion. "Hadez Attack", a re-recorded old song (from 1986, apparently!) takes a while to get going with that slow, choppy two-chord riff that carries on for perhaps just a bit too long, but when it finally erupts into speed it's like a massive release of tension and suddenly the preceding section makes perfect sense. Then we get one of those awful/great solos and a slow and menacing brooder of a riff comes to the fore (it's actually the intro riff, but played with a completely different rhythm that makes it sound like a resolution), with lead guitar almost creepily suggesting the underlying melody and growing stronger and more dominant as the song fades out. It's an engenious touch and this employment of very sombre, "black" melody, along with the subtle implementation of keyboards to instigate some very mephitic atmospheres, is probably Hadez's greatest mark of originality and individual strength. "The Sin Made Flesh" is one really long death metal song, and boy do those vocals get right up close and in your face with their sheer nastiness, but there are so many interesting and rather unpredictable changes that it doesn't really seem like a minute is wasted. Some of the shorter numbers, like the title track, do in fact eschew melody and doom sections for sheer extremity, and unfortunately these pieces work less well than they could have. The drumming may be part of the problem as it sounds a little feeble and may even be artificial, or at least not played on a real kit. It's too bad because most of the South American metal I've heard leans rather heavily on the percussion, often, intentionally or not, making wild and crazy drums the most outstanding feature of their music. Hadez ended up on the opposite end of the spectrum and I do feel that it hurts them a bit.

"Even If You Die a Thousand Times" is not an album you'll listen to and wish was longer. Fifty minutes may not seem like a lengthy excursion, but trust me, no matter how much you enjoy this you probably will breathe a little internal sigh of relief when it's over. The mix, the solos, the vocals and atmosphere just combine to make everything rather overwhelming, and this may well have been a part of Hadez's intention. For that reason, though I have a few reservations about the album, I don't really feel it'd be right to criticise them overly if there are times when I may simply "not get it". Either you will like this album as a whole, as I did, or it will repulse you almost right from the start.