NEWS RELEASE
Montreal, QC – February 21, 2024
HATRED REIGNS’ New Video “Absentia” Blurs The Lines Between Reality and Illusion
New Album “Awaken The Ancients” Out Now!
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L-R – Jeff Calder – Guitars, Adam Semler – Bass & Vocals, Neil Grandy – Drums, Mitchi Dimitriadis – Vocals
Unleashing their auditory journey “Awaken The Ancients” this past December, Canada’s brutal force Hatred Reigns not only released a full-length record, but a conceptual epic that traverses uncharted realms of sound and emotion. The album’s narrative follows a protagonist grappling with oppressive forces, leading to a summoning of the ancients who rise to liberate the tormented from their prolonged suffering. Plunged into an endless abyss, the tormented emerge upon a desolate shore, surrounded by aimless souls.
In a quest for liberation, the damned are ferried across by Charon who must navigate treacherous planes, confronting challenges from demons above and lurking waters below. Their odyssey takes them across the enigmatic river Styx, lured by the ancients towards Necropia, where ultimate judgment awaits.
The seventh track/story of eight on the album is “Absentia”, which tells the part of their tale of the vessel venturing onward, with the treacherous waters proving to be a metaphorical battleground. The Ancients, masters of manipulation, distort the perceptions of the voyagers. The chronicle’s protagonist’s senses are tampered with, blurring the lines between reality and illusion.
To give a visual admiration of this track’s relentless pillaging, Hatred Reigns has put together a 3D animated lyric video that can be seen and heard via its premiere on Ghost Cult Magazine HERE.
An eight-track sojourn into other worlds, paying homage to classic films and literature as well as their musical influences, “Awaken The Ancients” was mixed and mastered by vocalist Mitchi Dimitriadis, who also played a pivotal role in bringing guitarist Jeff Calder’s vision to life. Together with Calder, Dimitriadis developed orchestration soundscapes, incorporating percussive sounds, spoken word elements, and digital sound samples into the music.
Pedro “Lordigan” Sena, the album’s designer, crafted a masterful artwork piece that vividly depicts countless aimless souls preparing to face judgment. This artwork aligns seamlessly with the album’s thematic exploration and adds depth and vibrancy to the overall experience.
The tracks on the album are a testament to the band’s diverse influences, seamlessly woven into a unified entity that reflects their collective vision. The sonic journey they offer is a compelling fusion of their musical roots and is suggested for fans of Carcass, Behemoth, and Cryptopsy.
“Awaken The Ancients” was released on December 1, 2023, and is available at the following links:
Digital – https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/hatredreigns/awaken-the-ancients
Bandcamp – https://hatredreigns.bandcamp.com
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Track Listing:
1. Awaken The Ancients (5:20)
2. Pain Leads To Nothingness (3:16)
3. To Depths Unknown (2:40)
4. Obsolarium (2:36)
5. Ushered By Charon (5:23)
6. Planes Divide (3:47)
7. Absentia (4:58)
8. Departing Acheron (3:43)
Album Length: 31:20
Album and Live Lineup:
Mitchi Dimitriadis – Vocals
Jeff Calder – Guitars
Neil Grandy – Drums
Adam Semler – Bass & Vocals
More info: Facebook.com/hatredreignsband | Instagram.com/hatredreigns
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“Hatred Reigns’ Awaken the Ancients is Brutality in Sound and Theme… For those of you who can’t get enough of their brutal technical death metal thematically based on What Dreams May Come, Dante’s Inferno, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and love wallowing in the murky anguish of life’s darkness, take an audio gander at the stream of the album.” – Decibel Magazine
“this is a slab of high density, very technical death metal that fans will love” – Real Gone Rocks
“Hatred Reigns’ core death metal is sturdy, with bass guitar leads and overactive blast beats giving a technical spark to the album.” – Heavy Music HQ
“Fast, barebones, guttural death metal is what Hatred Reigns offer us here, and it’s bound to awaken the ancients indeed… If you’re into death metal at all, chances are good that you’ve heard this kind of no-frills death metal before, but in this crowded genre, Awaken the Ancients is certainly worth a listen. 4/5” – The Metal Crypt
“Hatred Reigns play to their strengths on this album opener (Awaken The Ancients), delivering speed and fury, but impressive agility as well as aggression. They unleash madness in the viciously sizzling and skittering riffage and ruthlessness in the bone-smashing hammer blows that segment the frenzies, and the monstrous guttural growls expel the words in barks that are almost as fast as the backing instrumentation. But the band also switch things up, slowing the tempo and injecting weirdly swirling arpeggios and then hitting the accelerator to bring forth an even more demented and delirious escapade, this time fronted by crazed screams and screeches as well as gritty growls, and propelled to further heights of lunacy by a fret-melter of a solo and bursts of maniacal drum battery. When the band decelerate again, the chords elevate it into an otherworldly realm, both menacing and haunting, and the band also layer in a little bass solo, a few humongous bass drops, and a hulking, lurching stomp. But of course they go back into the fast lane for one last burst of high-adrenaline barbarity as the song surges to the end.” – No Clean Singing
“‘Departing Archeon’, grabs me where I didn’t expect (You can see the video for this at the bottom of this page). This time the vocal and lyrics are instantly engaging… accessible and menacing ‘Welcome… We’ve been waiting for You…’ which somehow made me smile from ear to ear. And just wait for that main riff – it’s f**king perfection. Simple, brutal and so utterly worthy of a headbang. Looking over the release notes they compare their release to ‘Origin’, Suffocation, and Hideous Divinity, but I’m getting vibes of classic Thrash and Death Metal. Think early Sepultura, Gorefest and Carcass, especially with that DIY ethos those thrown in too. It enables them to keep their influences close to their heart and do exactly what they want to. Overall, it took me a few listens to the album to appreciate how good it is. It’s a complex album that doesn’t hide behind overly technical playing … it knows how to keep the riffs simple, crunchy and heavy… Incredible stuff.” – Music Trespass
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