Brood Of Hatred - Skinless Agony

Hailing from Tunisia, Brood Of Hatred have achieved that rare thing by creating a death metal album that actually sounds dark and has some atmosphere. It's just as punishing you want it to be but the band never concentrate on being extreme for the sake of it and stay focused on the song throughout.

Opener 'Deconstruction' starts with a slow melodic build up to a heavy climax before plummeting the listener on 'The Mind That Emerged'. Drummer Youssef Aouadi keeps everything moving with his double peddling even at a slow pace he keeps timing while the song tells it's story. There are some beautiful melodies and leads and all add to the song never making things sound watered down in any way. Even during the nicest moments Brood Of Hatred could still stand toe to toe with bands like Nile. Vocalist/bassist Muhammed Mêlkidoesn't really deviate away from his deep growl but uses it to his best advantage. He sounds somewhere between Glen Benton and Ross Dolan.

The album really comes into it's own when the interlude 'The Sinularity Is Near' with it's synths and spoken word passage leads to the title track. Again it starts of like hell has broken loose then comes into a mid paced groove during it's chorus the lead work makes the hair on my neck stand up. The atmosphere is brilliant. The albums artwork suits it perfectly. 'Predestined Suicide' is proably the most straight forward track as far as death metal is concerned it brings to mind suffocation. 'Obsession' the albums epic (clocking in at just under 10 minutes) is the real crowning moment with is delisiously dark, twisted riffs, it's melodic sections. It's simply brilliant.

All in all I'm gobsmacked. The quality on display here, the fact it's a debut album warrants a five star alone. It has the darkness and the slow murkiness of Immolation and the intricacy of Gorguts. One of my all time top five bands is Death. Their two albums "Human" and "Symbolic" are two of my all time favourite albums and those albums come to mind when listening to this. It's the lick here and the lead there that you don't notice at first yet it rings in your head later and you wonder where you heard it. It's the melodic passgaes that make the heavy sections that bit heavier. It's a dark yet beautiful album that's a pleasure to listen to. It's not instant it is a growere but if you are into any of the bands mentioned in this piece I can't recommend it enough.


1. Deconstruction
2. The Mind That Emerald
3. Technologial Genocide
4. Cacophony In The Creation
5. The Singularity Is Near
6. Skinless Agony
7. Predestined Suicide
8. Obsession
9. Disbelief Grows