Hateful Transgression: Hateful Transgression (2015)

I have been looking for this release for a long time.  Well, sort of.  You see, I purchased it a long time ago and never received it because the label I bought it from folded shortly after I originally bought it.  It took a long time before it became clear I was not going to get it.  That kind of thing really irks me, so it became a mission to get it in physical format.  After awhile, I just set up some alerts on a couple of sites and let it sit.  Then, earlier this summer, I received an alert that it was available.  You can bet I jumped on it.  This is the kind of thing that is fun when you collect physical media.

So, why this release?  Well, Hateful Transgression is experimenting with a crossover of genres that I am not sure has been attempted before.  The band sought to combine black metal with slam death metal.  It is an intriguing idea for sure.  

First of all, we have to talk about the vocals.  They are certainly interesting as vocalist Frank Jonker attempts to blend the two styles.  So, he is kind of doing a raspy pig squeal at times, which definitely comes across as kind of odd.  But it does kind of work.

The mix of the genres tends to favor the black metal elements.  There are elements of slam death at times, from the blast beats to the occasional chugging section, as well as the aforementioned pig squeals, but the black metal sections tend to dominate the sound.  There is not nearly enough of the slam parts to really satisfy someone specifically looking for that style.

Where the release falters is in the transitions between sections of the songs.  It is not at all seemless and often feels jarring.  It is clear that this is something of an experimental release and the band members have not quite worked out all of the issues before recording it. 

Despite the issues, this is an intriguing release.  Hateful Transgression released a split and an EP after this one that I may have to track down to see if they smoothed out the rough edges.