Amentia - Burn To Hate

The Russian band Amentia (there are a couple other bands named Amentia) opens its CD Burn to Hate with a minimal string-like synth piece (a bit like Dimmu Borgir’s Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia opening) but then closes that intro with a screaming child. It is unclear if that screaming baby is a hater born or the object hated, but what is clear is that the pain begins. The death metal of murder launches and in a fairly strange way. The next track is called “I don’t give a fuck” but that is followed by a track called “Live Without Hesitation.” The effect culminates in the feeling that the character singing simultaneously embraces some nihilistic existence and yet somehow wants to live in the Now. One can not say if this emotional response is absolute but one might be able to say that the singer-character wants to live and yet wants to give up the pain of life at the same time.

Could not this be true? I ask because the effort of all the musicians is intense, consistent, and driven. The drums are double kicked, the guitar strings are plucked straight downwards with a singular force, and the bass is mixed in this low-end power almost invisibly. Then the fifth track is called “Suicide” but again begins with the crying baby again. This mixing of supposed incongruous ingredients creates an alarmingly beautiful and scary texture and furthers the conceptualization of the desire to completely live and completely die. Keep it up Amentia!

1. Born To Hate
2. I Don't Give A Fuck
3. Live Without Hesitation
4. Going For Death
5. Suicide
6. Slavery As A Sentence
7. Quiet Obedience
8. Crucifixion Decapitated (cover Exhumator)
Soulflesh Collector
Reviewer: twansibon
Feb 26, 2009

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