And the album’s final two tracks, the instrumental “Chaos Theory” and the concluding “O’ Majestic Being, Hear My Call,” are simply tremendous. But as Infernus goes along, surprising compositional touches begin to emerge the title track begins with an ominous, dramatic spoken interlude atop atmospheric guitars, before launching forward with a tumbling rockslide rhythm that recalls Morbid Angel‘s “God of Emptiness.” Similarly, “Zealot, Crusader of War” gains its power from tempo change, moving from a slow, threatening crawl to a pummeling barrage and back again. The first few tracks are full-blast death metal of the type the band has long specialized in, Rutan’s psychedelic, almost hovering riffs and ranting vocals propelled by Hrubovcak’s throbbing bass and Westmoreland’s relentless blast beats. Musically, Infernus is one of the band’s most progressive and expansive albums.
And finally, while the three previous Hate Eternal albums, as well as their 2006 live DVD The Perilous Fight, all featured cover art by Paul Romano, the Infernus cover is by Eliran Kantor, whose paintings have adorned releases by Testament, Atheist, Iced Earth, Sodom, Evile and many more. Hrubovcak (with the group since 2009) are welcoming a new drummer on this record- Chason Westmoreland, formerly of Oceano and Burning the Masses.
Secondly, guitarist/vocalist/founder Erik Rutan and bassist J.J. First and foremost, it’s their debut for Season of Mist, following three albums on Earache (1999’s Conquering the Throne, 2002’s King of All Kings, and 2005’s I, Monarch) and two on Metal Blade (2008’s Fury & Flames and 2011’s Phoenix Amongst the Ashes). ( Buy it from Amazon.) It represents change for the band, on several fronts. Hate Eternal‘s sixth album, Infernus, is out today.