DE LO MEJOR DEL AÑO | HATE - BELLVM REGIIS | Reseña
Over Music
[{'start': '0.280', 'end': '5.280', 'text': "Bellum Regiis, is the new album by Hate, which comes out tomorrow through Metal Blade. For those who are not much into the subject, Hate is a Blackened Death Metal band from Poland, which formed in the 90s under the name Somuchhate, then they changed to Infected, and then just Hate in 91, which is how they are known today. The band released 12 albums since their formation and a lot of musical material where you can see how at the beginning of their career the group did more of a fairly extreme death metal but that still did not become Blackened, it was only on the album Erebos that they could say that they found themselves, but their compositional ability was still a little timid, in the sense that they had not yet unleashed their full potential, although they are a band that does not have any bad albums, for a long time their albums went by without pain or glory, they never stood out, until their album number 7, which is where they began to gain much more popularity, where thanks to the help of Listenable Records, the record company they worked with at that time, they professionalized absolutely everything, and that is why they made the leap both in their compositional ability and in the production of their albums. From there they began to release albums that were one better than the other, always trying to innovate a little, but at the same time faithful to their style, leaving us with what was the best album of their entire career, Rugia, but now, we have an album superior to Rugia, and a new album that is without a doubt the best of Hate's career, Bellum Regiis. This album has 9 songs that give us a total duration of 46 minutes and 12 seconds. Personally, I would divide the analysis of this album into two parts, since the first 4 songs are over 6 minutes long, then we have a song less than 2 minutes long, and then 4 more songs that are more than 4 minutes long. Therefore, they are long songs, but super complete, and we can notice this from the beginning with the title track of the album. This is the longest song, almost 7 minutes, and it is a journey full of intensity at all times, the intro is super epic, with a female voice and Adam's voice that continually gains volume little by little, they take us into a song full of heaviness and a completely dense atmosphere. The guitar riffs are super dynamic, varied and they don't hesitate to take you from one rhythm to another constantly. The same thing happens with the drums, it has a typical technique of this genre, in which it alternates between slow and fast tempos, but it accompanies the guitars very well, especially reaching minute 4:20 where we have a great solo by the lead guitar, and after this we hear Adam's voice again with certain vocal arrangements. One of the best songs on this album, but it's hard for me to stay with this one when Iphigenia begins, one of the singles on the album, which continues along the same path as Bellum. The song completely hypnotizes you with the guitars, and with the power of the drums, a brutal wall of sound is generated that changes the speed of the song as it progresses. Along with the previous one, it is one of the best songs on the album, and I would tell you about the group's discography, this song definitely has to be in all the band's shows because it is an anthem with all the lyrics. And at the last minute we even have another guitar solo that takes the song away, and then returns to the characteristic pattern of the song and thus ends with this great song. The Vanguard is a little more chaotic, coming and going with the different atmospheres it offers us, and with great intensity minute by minute, which we owe completely to Daniel, the drummer, who is only 27 years old, and plays like a king. The configuration of his drums for this album and for Rugia's, allows him to bring out his full potential and demonstrate what a good drummer he is. Outside of this we also have a lot of tenacity in the guitars, which give us moments of melodic riffs, more than anything at the end, they also give us black metal riffs and unique solos. I like that the band makes the most of all the elements and tools they have at their disposal, I definitely think that this made them a better band as time went by. In fact the songs are so good, that even though they are long, You don't realize their duration, they don't feel eternal, they feel worked in a very meticulous way in every detail and in every line. The next song is the second longest and has a very infernal sound, from the voices to the instrumental and reaching the end it becomes melodic in the riffs, but it does not lose its atmosphere, it is almost a march towards hell, and I can't help but imagine this song, with a lot of fire everywhere, being played live. The patterns don't vary too much but they manage to catch you effectively. Rite Of Triglav is the shortest song, and although it is an interlude, musically it is beautiful, because it has an epic and orchestral rhythm, which with the voice of Adam and the voice of Eliza Sacharczuk, who is the woman who does the female voices on the album, generate a bridge between the first part of the album, and the second, which you cannot skip, it is definitely one of the best interludes I heard, and here is also another example of how Hate, gives everything creatively, that even in the interlude in the middle of the album, they cared about doing things well, and that it captivates you instantly. For me, this is another song that cannot be missed live. Perun Rising has more black metal riffs but leaning toward classic black, where the sound gain is exaggerated, and the drop of the riffs is constant, maintaining it until the drums start, which together, take us into the sound environment of this song, which is great, very heavy, very intense, and above all, very dark. It's incredible how they maintain that environment throughout the song, everything feels very chaotic and they don't give you a second's respite, Perun Rising is without a doubt one of Hate's best songs as well. We continue with the second shortest song on the album, after the interlude, which at 4 and a half minutes, takes us in the same direction as Perun Rising, but Alfa Inferi has its own identity as a song, in fact it has more classic heavy metal riffs during the intro, and then they go straight into black. The drum work here is tremendous, super intense at all times and the melodies go very well with Daniel's blast beat . The vocals are like in all Hate songs, impressive, and they don't release a clean voice of their own, not even by chance, which I would like to see in Hate one day, some clean voice from Adam, it would be a good element added to the songs and I don't think it looks bad, I feel like they would know how to work it into their music. Prophet of Arkhen enters the track strong and with an almost swampy atmosphere in the guitars. Definitely, this song is the one with the best riffs, they are super energetic and engaging. The song becomes increasingly cloudy towards the end, Adam and Dominik do a great job together here, and they leave a battle of chords in this song that will blow your mind, this is another of my favorite Hate songs. And finally, Ageless Harp Of Devilry, is a much more direct song, it immerses itself fully in pure Blackened Death Metal, and is the greatest example of this album, where you can see how the group maintains its style and not only that, but tries to take it to the highest level. It is another very complete song , full of chaos, heaviness, and even at one point it becomes melodic and epic, but above all the power of the instrumental predominates in one could say 80% of the song. The album is definitely Hate's best, to date, surpassing Rugia. I love how the band always made extreme music throughout their career, they never tried anything more commercial, they always stayed in the line of extreme music, and they gave us albums that at first maybe didn't stand out, but they knew how to find their place in the extreme metal scene, and they gave us impressive albums that literally, these last 3, are the best, firstly, Bellum, secondly Rugia, and thirdly Auric. Bellum is characterized by giving you a very intense Blackened trip, with very good touches of epicness, and a musical technique full of energy and power at every moment. With Bellum there is not a single minute that will disappoint or bore you, it is undoubtedly one of the best of 2025, and a work that tells us that Hate is at its best compositionally and musically. There are no errors, there are no fillers, just a passion for extreme music, and a need to improve album after album, to the point that the production they currently have is super professional and reveals at a glance the capacity of each of the members, giving life to an album, which will definitely go down in history, in the extreme metal scene. A 10 more than deserved. We'll see you in the next review."}]