Justin Hate

Wandering Deathbird EP

Written by: PP on 15/05/2012 04:56:39

Justin Hate is a relatively new metal/hardcore band from Copenhagen. They started in 2009 and have released a demo EP prior to the release of their official debut, the six track "Wandering Deathbird" EP, which is really their first shot at being recognized at the local and national scene of Denmark. I secretly hope that their band name relates to Justin Bieber, by the way.

In any case, the band dwells somewhere between grating Danish metal and metallic hardcore, while offering a few different looks as well in the form of sludgy and atmospheric passages that are designed to distinguish the band from the gray mass of metal bands in the country. At first, the band fires with all cylinders on "Damn You To Hell" and on "Martyr", providing a heavy, but monotonus Danish metal onslaught with a strong leaning on metallic hardcore from the most metal end of that definition. Their vocalist screams and barks his way through some decent material, but in general the band fails to make an impression on the listener.

That is, until they slow things down to doom/sludge metal tempos on the title track of the EP, "Wandering Deathbird", and allow some room for their melodies to breathe properly. The raw vocals, which previously have sounded about as pleasant as being dragged behind a car on a drit road while hungover, all of a sudden create a brand new dimension to their sound as they act as a contrast instead of a supplementing force to the guitars, which are now melancholically tuned and even feature ambient sections for good measure.

If there's one thing Justin Hate should take out of this album, it's that "Wandering Deathbird" is exactly the kind of song they want to be writing in the future. You can argue that "Martyr" has some decent riffing and it sounds like the band means (hardcore) business, but it just blends in so much with the rest of the material on the EP that it's not really worth writing home about. Basically, Justin Hate need to focus their future songwriting away from the typical Danish metal trap of sounding heavy and brutal for the sake of sounding heavy and brutal, and write good, solid songs instead. The potential is there, it's now up to teh band to decide whether they want to capitalize on it.

6

Download: Wandering Deathbird, True Nihilist
For the fans of: Danish metal
Listen: Bandcamp

Release date 02.01.2012
Self-Released

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