I can’t say that the new Hatesphere surprises me. I expect a lot from the five Danes, and they certainly deliver the goods!

Where I thought that last year’s ‘The Sickness Within’ managed more than its predecessors to capture the powerhouse dynamo that is Hatesphere live, ‘Serpent Smiles…’ does that even more so. The sound is fuller than before and therefore does more justice to the band’s capabilities and the stuff they give us live.

Hatesphere have definitely established their own trademark sound, but that doesn’t stop them from putting more variation into this latest effort.

Damned Below Judas is almost a death metal song with Jacob Bredahl growling away to an extent he never did before, guitarists Pepe and Heinz throwing in a few bars of Pantera-inspired riffing (around ‘Far Beyond Driven’), Absolution has a tinge of Type O Negative with the keyboard making an entrance, Floating has a shot of Judas Priest, but what’s most important; overall, Hatesphere has worked their groove to perfection, with Anders Gyldenøhr behind the drums impressing more notably than he did before.

Buy it.