HateSphere heralds a revolution.
In 2026, the Danish band led by Peter Lyse Karmark (guitar, Dark Tranquillity), Mike Park Nielsen (drums, Illdisposed, ex-Mercenary), Jimmy Nedergaard (bass), Mathias Uldall (vocals), and Franz Aleksander Posch (guitar, Livløs) returns with their twelfth album, Guillotine.
The album opens with Chapter XII, an introduction that starts off fairly calm and melancholic with a clear sound, which shifts to distortion halfway through, retaining its intoxicating tones before becoming more catchy as it transitions into Dogma, a track where the band’s Thrash/Death Metal roots come into full force, and which also features Mathias’ first furious vocal passages. The choppy approach allows the musicians to constantly reignite the energy, while also developing their razor-sharp melodies before moving on to the title track Guillotine, which maintains a rather cold and brutal groove but ultimately hits the mark and makes our necks bang – if not actually cutting them. Next up is Morbid, another heavily choppy composition that naturally makes us bang our heads, but which also employs far more virulent sections to turn the headbanging into a frenzy before quickly moving on to Cleansing, where the harmonics hit just as hard as the rhythm section. The track kicks off at a brisk pace before sweeping us into Snake Charmer, which starts off fairly slowly but then doesn’t hesitate to shift into high gear and run us over, using its length to let the melodies linger; then Mouth Filled With Barbed Wire takes over, weaving its leads through high-octane riffs in Melodic Death Metal style with a touch of Old School flair. Bottom Feeder starts off with a slightly slower, more haunting approach, but the band picks up the pace halfway through, shifting toward something more energetic before returning to its heavy sound for the finale, which leads into the lively Human Scum, a track that effortlessly alternates between all its influences to win you over. The track flows seamlessly, but the album already comes to a close with Heresy, which in turn delivers waves of aggression followed by lighter, softer, and even intoxicating choruses at times, allowing the vocalist to venture into slightly plaintive registers to bring this chapter to a close.
Hatesphere knows its Death, Thrash, and Groove Metal roots inside and out, and the album is already very good as is, but on Guillotine we notice a few forays into other influences, making it even more interesting!
85/100
