HATESPHERE: Ballet of the Brute

Produced by Tommy Hansen, Jakob Bredahl and Hatesphere

Released: 2004

In the wake of The Haunted, bands of a similar nature started springing up all over the place at the beginning of the decade. Most weren't worth the effort of checking out, but there were a few that certainly knew how to do it. Hatesphere from Denmark was one of those, as their mightily impressive third album shows.

Ballet of the Brute is a formidable collection of brutal thrash that leaves others sprawling in the dust. ‘The Beginning and the End’ starts things ominously with a slow build up of heavy riffing and then ‘Deathtrip’ lets loose in a rampage that lasts less than two minutes. Infectious and heavy riffing is the order of the day for Hatesphere as they rage through killer tracks like ‘Vermin’ but the album actually gets better as it goes on, showing somewhat more diversity in the speed and vocal attack than The Haunted did on One Kill Wonder. ‘Downward to Nothing’ has a slight hardcore feel but the incredible thrash riffing and melodic lead guitars keep it from straying from the feel of the album. ‘What I See, I Despise’ is slower but none the less menacing, being one of the album highlights with Jakob Bredahl’s voice adopting a growlier aspect to contrast his harsher vocals in the faster songs. ‘Blankeyed’ is simply awesome and ‘500 Dead People’ combines the sinister slow riffing of ‘What I See…’ with outright speed to close the album with a blast.

The hidden cover of ‘Bark at the Moon’ is hilarious, but apart from that there isn’t a bad song on here: Ballet of the Brute is a minor thrash masterpiece from beginning to end.

1. The Beginning and the End
2. Deathtrip
3. Vermin
4. Downward to Nothing
5. Only the Strongest...
6. What I See I Despise
7. Last Cut, Last Heard
8. Warhead
9. Blankeyed
10. 500 Dead People
11. Bark at the Moon (hidden track)

Rating: 85%