The sophomore release from Finnish quintet A Lie Nation is a condensed version of everything awesome about melodic black/death metal packed so tight that they’ve crossed the event horizon and the Begin Hate EP is a completely new dimension of black metal. Awesome perhaps being a vague term to describe the intensely coherent blend of melodies with the straight up passion that the rhythm drives but let’s go with it.
Begin Hate is to black metal as Stranger Things was to Sci-fi. Offering up a comprehensive amalgamation of everything tasty the genre has produced until now but with its own unique twist. Where an electrified barbed wire sound will leave you feeling bereft when it’s over and wheer its nostalgic ensemble is fully optimized to break through the walls and take you on a journey through dark passages.
With only four short tracks A Lie Nation move from Celtic Frost style riffs to Solefald type ensembles while drawing on the power that bands like Emperor and Dimmu Borgir inspire on Begin Hate. Yet they retain their own volatility as they blend influences mercilessly into a fresh meal of aggressive flavours. Intelligently defined in a cauldron of blackest pitch forging a new dynamic glaze of metal.
A Lie Nation have effectively distilled melodic black metal with an unassuming focus and crafted a mighty artifact only four tracks tall, from hook to hook it remains like a leviathan on the horizon, as its looming silhouette beckons forth gruesome passages that are brutal and fun. Its layering of shadows shreds through the light like an apparition hunting its prey making Begin Hate a ghost not to be trifled with.
9/10
