Made of Hate - Pathogen
Rating
RIYL
HammerfallTrivium
Kalmah
Release Date
02/08/2011
Label
AFM RecordsTracklist
1. Friend2. Russian Roulette
3. You, Departed
4. I Can't Believe
5. Lock 'n' Load
6. Pathogen
7. False Flag
8. Questions
9. Untitled
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As I was writing this review I found out that this album had been released overseas last summer so apologizes for the late review but I can only guess that Germany’s AFM Records took a little bit of time to get it this way. The new album Pathogen by Made of Hate is billed as melodic death metal, but I don’t really hear it. Made of Hate started out as a Children of Bodom clone with their debut album Bullet to The Head but have since seemed to move on from that sound, but is it really for the best?
Pathogen is a solid metal album deterred by one factor--the lead singer. His vocals are laughable at best; they take on this sort of dirty-gravel-faux-death-metal approach that is neither clean nor true growling, but instead comes off as sort of a loud bark. The music is much more interesting, with plenty of guitar prowess and great hooks to keep the attention of the listener. Made of Hate, in all honesty, should abandon their current singer and look some place else for a vocalist. Some may see this record as more power metal oriented (without the genre's reliance on keyboards) and sounding somewhat similar to Hammerfall. However, bands like Hammerfall create albums that are much more thought out than what we have here. There is also a hint of thrash found in the rhythm guitars and the riffs therein, adding some potential uniqueness. The transitions throughout the album are well done, but you can pick up on all of the cues set by the band, making them somewhat obvious. This could just be personal taste but after listening to the first couple of songs, you already know what is to follow after the breakdowns and build-ups on just about every track.
The best song on the album is the untitled instrumental that closes the record. The collection of riffs fit nicely with each other and really makes a cool song. The lead guitar on this track, and the whole album for that matter, is engaging and doesn’t really rely too heavily on repeating the same ideas over and over. All in all, the record is not bad, the arrangements are good, but the vocals really hurt the record. I suspect that Made of Hate could find success if they simply ditched their current vocalist.
--Corey Mack
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