From Houston, Texas comes this five-piece band called Haserot and ‘Advent of Suffering’ is their debut full-length album, released by the cult Redefining Darkness Records. First thing that should be mentioned is the fact that the legendary Dan Swanö mixed and mastered the record so the sound quality is as expected on a very high level. The masterful cover artwork is the other thing: it reminds me of the style of the well known Ed Repka. And last but not least: guest appearances from none other but James Murphy (Death, Obituary, Testament…) and Andy LaRocque (Kind Diamond) on the final track ‘Curse of Haserot’ are one big plus as well.
But in the end of the day music is what truly matters and what we have here are ten tracks of excellent Death/Black Metal with a melodic touch. From the start of the title track ‘Advent of Suffering’ the influence of bands such as Dissection and At The Gates is obvious. Justin McKittrick’s vocals alternate between harsh blackish screams and deep deathly growls with ease and the guitar riffing of Maurice Eggenschwiler and Brandon Johnson is aggressive and melodic at the same time. The rhythm section of Garrick Smith on bass and Cryptos Grimm on drums is pummeling mercilessly and the tempos are capable of making you break your neck from headbanging. The following track ‘Poverty of Thought’ shows some serious Carcass influence and how Justin McKittrick can sounds like Jeff Walker. The Carcass worship continues with the raging ‘Apophis’ which offers again some great guitar leads mixed with Black Metal riffs. Not everything here is on speed though, mid-tempo crushers like ‘Tears in Bethlehem’ and ‘Madness and the Void’ are true headbangers and offer variety in this overall fast album. The final comes with the above mentioned ‘Curse of Haserot’ where the guitar duels between James Murphy, Andy LaRocque and Justin McKittrick are pure bliss.
Haserot’s ‘Advent of Suffering’ is an excellent debut album that shows the promising future of one very talented band. Everything here is on a very high standard and if you are into high quality melodic Death/Black Metal then you should not overlook this gem.
