I have to be
blatantly honest: I have had a hard time deciding whether this turns out to be a
positive or luke-warm review.
On one hand, I like a lot of what I heard on 'Detest'. The cool midtempo intro
of Black Storm Jackals and a very nice instrumental part of same song. Ruled by
Tyrants is also an excellent tune. Chaos Anthem probably my favourite track with
it's driving staccato riffing. Add to this that Jason Barron has a perfect death
metal voice. Reminds me of Dave Ingram in places.
On the other hand, there is an black metal gone rock tendency a la Immortal that
I'm not at all keen on. Insurrection is a good example of this. And the
otherwise marvellous Barron goes black metal vocally in The Sleeper Has Awakened
which is a bit of a shame in this case - it turns the track into a filler in my
ears.
And fillers there are on the album. Spiritual Hypnosis is another example of
those. Exhauster of Souls has the same tendency although it is almost like two
songs in one.
I do end up in a luke-warm rating eventually because I'm left with the feeling
that 64 minutes is more than enough for Harkonin to say what they have to say.
44 minutes and everthing carved to the bone would have been more reasonable.
Approved effort, but could be sharper!
