Angry Metal Guy<p><a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/hate-bellum-regis-review/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hate – Bellum Regis Review</a></p><p><i>By Dr. A.N. Grier</i></p><p><span class="">In a country where you have to compete with <b>Behemoth</b> and <b>Vader</b> to make a name for yourself, <b>Hate</b> has done damn well for the last thirty years. Never a band to wow the masses, <b>Hate</b> is consistently solid, moving their traditional death metal sound into a more blackened variation over the years. Though everyone calls <b>Hate </b>a <b>Behemoth</b> clone, I’ve listened to both bands long enough to know that’s not true. While they’ve never had the success of their Polish heathens, Perun V.’s crushing guitars and <b>Vader</b>-esque vocals continue to lead the charge, prolifically releasing albums to their dedicated fanbase regardless how many times someone, like <span><b>Steel Dick</b></span>, calls them “<b>Behemoth Jr</b>.”<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/hate-bellum-regis-review/#fn-215793-1" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">1</a> This year brings <i>Bellum Regis</i>, the band’s thirteenth fucking full-length album. Jesus. And, as fans would expect, it’s massive, spitting venom and rumbling daycare facilities like a panzer just rolled into town. But, will ole <span><b>Grier</b></span> love it or <b>Hate</b> it?</span></p><p><span class="">Coming off 2021’s solid offering, <i>Rugia</i>, <i>Bellum Regis</i> sets out to deliver more devastation to this already devastating world. One surprising aspect of this new album is the inclusion of female vocals. While mostly assigned to the nosebleed section to protect them from the action, these subtle touches add some well-needed texture to the album’s melodic passages. Combined with the vocals, those melodic elements dip deep into the <b>Gorgoroth</b> watering hole, pulling up similar handfuls of depressed trout as <b>Gorgy</b>’s “Rebirth” and “Burn in His Light.” Surrounding all this are nuggets of headbangable riffage, blistering blastbeats, and Perun V.’s vicious vocals that never seem to age.</span></p><p></p><p><span class="">“Bellum Regis” gets the war tracks rolling in a stellar way. One of the album’s better songs, the misleading clean guitars and gentle female swooning eventually give way to a minefield of blackened riffage and guttural growls. As it charges ahead, melodic flourishes rear their ugly heads before they are shot down by what sounds like a dozen machine guns firing in unison. As the song alternates between aggressive and melodic passages, it continues to build… for a bit too long. Regardless, it’s a crushing number and a fantastic way to begin the album. The follow-up track, “Iphigenia,” shares the title track’s ill-tempered mood with a synthy atmosphere and alternating clean and hauntingly distorted guitars, which bring to mind a combination of <b>Behemoth</b> and <b>Carach Angren</b>. The main riffage has some serious death attitude, and the back half is injected with a melodic transition, where that female siren returns. But, like its predecessor, it hangs around a touch too long.</span></p><p></p><p><span class="">“A Ghost of Lost Delight” is another long, building piece that offers as much as the previous tracks but never really reaches the crest. Romping around with old-school blackened tremolo work, it passes through dungeons of meloblack bliss before collapsing and restarting again. By the end, the hopes for an erupting climax hang in the air but never come. While the simplistic “Prophet of Arkhen” uses a similar riff foundation, it introduces beautifully crushing chugs that’ll snap your neck and leave you a vegetable for the remainder of the album. Keeping it simple, the build is more meaningful, and the final climax leaves me in orgasmic bliss. “Perun Rising” delivers the goods for the melodic areas of the album. Mashing black, death, and meloblack together, this dark beauty rises and falls through a barren wasteland where <b>Mephorash</b> lives.</span></p><p><span class="">Overall, <i>Bellum Regis</i> is another solid outing from <b>Hate</b> that continues along the path set by the band in the last decade or so. Some songs work perfectly as they stand, while others could use some trimming. Most notably, a few minutes of the album’s first half could use the axe, as the back half is shorter and arguably works better. That said, each track contains pieces that separate one from the other to minimize repetition across its forty-six-minute runtime. Though <i>Bellum Regis</i> isn’t perfect, I’ll return for those little morcels of goodness as I do with every <b>Hate</b> release.</span></p> <p><strong>Rating:</strong> 3.0/5.0<br><strong>DR:</strong> 6 | <strong>Format Reviewed:</strong> 256 kb/s mp3<br><strong>Label:</strong> <a href="https://www.metalblade.com/us/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Metal Blade Records</a><br><strong>Websites:</strong> <a href="https://hate.bandcamp.com/music" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hate.bandcamp.com</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HATEOFFICIAL" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">facebook.com/hateofficial</a><br><strong>Releases Worldwide:</strong> May 2nd, 2025</p><p></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2025/" target="_blank">#2025</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/30/" target="_blank">#30</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/behemoth/" target="_blank">#Behemoth</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/bellum-regis/" target="_blank">#BellumRegis</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/black-metal/" target="_blank">#BlackMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/carach-angren/" target="_blank">#CarachAngren</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/death-metal/" target="_blank">#DeathMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/gorgoroth/" target="_blank">#Gorgoroth</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/hate/" target="_blank">#Hate</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/may25/" target="_blank">#May25</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/mephorash/" target="_blank">#Mephorash</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/metal-blade-records/" target="_blank">#MetalBladeRecords</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/polish-metal/" target="_blank">#PolishMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/review/" target="_blank">#Review</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/reviews/" target="_blank">#Reviews</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/vader/" target="_blank">#Vader</a></p>