Recent updates
- S(crap)s: I Miss My Death / Kaoskult / Raus & Perunwit (split) / Spatial / Thy Flesh (13/06/14)
- Hatebreed: The rise of brutality (12/06/14)
- Vomiting Corpses: Coma - The spheres of innocence (11/06/14)
- Mayhem: Esoteric warfare (10/06/14)
- S(crap)s: Akrotheism / Black Altar / Druknroll / Enthroned / Funeral Sutra (09/06/14)
- Agalloch: The serpent & the sphere (08/06/14)
- Dark Tranquillity: Construct (07/06/14)
- In Flames: The jester race (06/06/14)
- S(crap)s: Souldrainer / Tonic Breed / Rude / Defying / Electric Hellride / Scorned Disciple (05/06/14)
- Culted: Oblique to all paths (04/06/14)
- read
Recent discussions
Class 6(66)
The Project Hate MCMXCIX: Cybersonic superchrist
11/04/06 || Statik Majik
Released: 2000
Introduction
I found out about The Project Hate MCMXCIX back in early 2001. It was a pretty boring day at work and I had plenty of time to kill, so I was reading various websites of my fave-bands. From Entombed’s site I found some info about Jörgen Sandström’s other band in which he was doing vocals, and that fact solely got my attention. You see, I loved his work on the Grave-albums and I was hoping that the “new project of his” would be similar to the old Grave-stuff. Anyway, I clicked the link and got to The Project Hate’s website and navigated directly to the download-section. Remember, I hadn’t read anything, nor seen anything, of their site at that point, so I had no idea what the band would sound like, but I was expecting something in vein of Grave. So, I chose to download the song “Christianity Delete”, and once I got it, I naturally started to listen to it…
And I was blown away!
I nearly fell off my chair. I really can’t describe how I felt, cos the feelings I had were more than mixed. The strongest one was definitely “amazement”. The second one was probably puzzled “happiness”. Since I mostly listened to thrash/death-metal at the time, this was something I wasn’t used to. Nor even expected to be used to. I didn’t know what to do or how to react, so I decided to listen to it again. I have to admit that I actually hated the fact that I couldn’t tell myself how I actually felt about the track, so I told myself to listen to it a few more times. And while doing so, read the lyrics at the same time… Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day devouring all the info of the band from the net while downloading the whole album from Napster. To put a long and boring story short: The Project Hate became my favourite band and I’ve been seriously in love with all of their albums ever since.
Songwriting
10. Fucken perfect. The idea of using electronics, female/male vocals, death-metal and techno-influences/jungle beats wasn’t new or innovative to the metal scene in 2000, but The Project Hate took it to a completely new level when they introduced “Cybersonic Superchrist” to the world. So, even if the ingredients existed all the time, they managed to create something unique out of ‘em. And the elements are mixed together perfectly.
Everything I expect a good metal album to have is there; catchy riffs and melodies, kick-ass growls, definitely enough variety in the songs, and lyrics to support the total devastation their music reflects. The perfection presented here culminates in the tracks “The Swarming of whores” and “Christianity Delete”, my favourite tracks on “Cybersonic Superchrist”. The vocal trade-off with J and Mia on “Swarming” is nothing but brilliant, and the beauty and feeling of desolation that comes across in “Christianity delete”... It is something that I have no words for.
Production
8. Damn good. With a little less reverb on J’s vocals, and maybe a bit more effort on the drumsound, it would’ve been perfect. Now it’s “only” close to perfect.
Guitars
10. Massive as fuck. Let me get this out of my system: I’ve never been a major fan for fancy and technical guitar solos or guitar-trickery/show off’s. I dig simple, yet a bit melodic, riffs that sounds fucken heavy. The Project Hate deliver exactly that. With style.
Vocals
10. Jörgen fucken Sandström. Probably one of the most legendary death metal vocalists ever. So, you should know what kind of mayhem he delivers. Add the extremely beautiful and enchanting voice of Mia Ståhl to this and the result is an extremely effective vocal-contrast for the songs. The Project Hate was the first band who really got the idea of using a female vocalist side-by-side with a male growler, without losing the heaviness of the songs or making it sound like out of place or ridiculous, right. And the result can only be envied by others. Of the two studio-albums where Mia Ståhl sings, this is the one where she does her most amazing job. And I have to add that even her performance here pales in comparison to what she did on the unreleased Deadmarch-album, which was the first version of what later on became The Project Hate.
Bass
7. I suppose there’s some, I never paid too much attention to it. You can hear it most of the times if you really concentrate on it.
Drums
7,5. There isn’t any. It’s all programmed. Although, it’s fucken fortunate for all of us that Lord K used to play drums, he knows fucken well how he wants the programmed drums to sound. And the sound is good. Nothing fancy or extra-ordinairy, just plain good.
Keyboards and electronics
8. I’ve never been a big fan of keyboards and stuff prior to this, but The Project Hate would not be what they are without ‘em. And needless to say, all these elements fit the music like a glove and helps out to create the extremely powerful and dark atmosphere.
Lyrics
“Watch me, as christianity’s deleted… I’m flesh and blood, I’m more than your god.”
Again, a full fucken 10. Godhating, christbashing, eloquently written lyrics. I like to read/listen to lyrics that require a bit more “searching/studying” than the usual bold-in-yer face Deicide:ish lyrics. Nothing wrong with Deicide’s approach, but fortunately The Project Hate decided to take a slightly different path.
Cover art
8,5. Of the two album covers I didn’t create for the band, I’d say that this one is my favourite. It’s simple and hasn’t “artistic gimmicks” in it, but it looks damn professional. It’s obviously a part of some car-engine with some edited background. It does the trick, and somehow I think it reflects the band-name. Don’t ask me why.
Logo
8. The band-name, and album-title, written with “Microgramma Bold” font. The very same font Opel, for example, use for their logo. And gazillions of other parties by the way. It looks nice and effective. And it fits the album-visuals perfectly.
Booklet
7. Nothing fancy, pictures of band members, lyrics and credits, over similar background as used for the cover art. I dig.
Overall and ending rant
9 /10. If this review would’ve been written in 2000, when this was their only release, it’d be full 10. I loved (and still do) every aspect of this disc, but, since they’ve gotten better and better with each album they’ve released since “Cybersonic”, it’d be strange to give it the maximum-score.
