Lemming Project. Did the name draw me to their album? You
bet. All I could think about were the green haired creatures from the “Lemmings”
video game I used to play as a kid. Fortunately, this band does not blindly
follow the others like the creatures from said game and play the same bland
death metal that many others were releasing around this time leading them
straight to their demise.
Hailing from Germany, Lemming Project would find themselves
putting out a death metal album in at the time when death metal was already beginning
to wan on people’s desirability. The movement had already spread throughout Europe,
North and South America and the shock and awe of the genre was no longer enough
to simply run out and purchase yet another death metal album. Unless you were
part of the budding “Melodic death metal” offshoot that was beginning to make
waves, you ran the risk of suffering from the same fate as many thrash outfits
felt near the end of the thrash era and missed the party. Which leads me back
to my statement earlier about not simply following the trend. Lemming Project seems
to have understood this situation and set out to create an album that would be
true to the old school death metal sound, but offer enough flair to help it
rise above the copy and paste clones. Thus we have, “Hate and Despise”.
“Hate and Despise” is indeed, not your typical death metal
album with simple chugging riffs, blast beat insanity and factory installed
harsh vocals. Don’t get me wrong, those elements are very much present, but
they are not the only defining characteristics of the album. Instead, what we
have here is an album that has a lot a variation present. Not just the songs as
a whole, but within the songs themselves. With that in mind, the major factor
in this variation of tempo changes, time shifts and strange riffs are
attributed to dueling guitars the band employs.
The Opening track “Maintain” begins with a simply, yet
brooding riff, which then transitions into a down-tuned riff that sounds reminiscent
of Dismember’s trademark sound. As the song progresses, we reach a point when
the band unleashes the twin guitar attack and a very nice rhythm kicks in
overtop the main riff. That’s not all, because near the end of this 7-minute
monster, we here the use of the twin guitars once more. These characteristic of
riffs and shifts are a consistent force that drive this album forward from
start to finish.
The drumming on “Hate and Despise” are not what you would
expect from your standard death metal. Sure there are double base kicks and
blast beats, but the overall sound is neither in the foreground or pushed into
background. The best analogy I could make for them is a supporting actor in an
award winning film. The main character is going to get the bulk of the accolades,
but the reality is that without the supporting cast to help showcase the star,
they would just be talent without substance. The drums provide enough rhythm and
carry the beat of the tune, but are not called upon to become the star of the
show.
Hendrijk Vangerow’s vocals have a nice growl to them that at
time, remind me of Chuck Schuldiner of Death, not in sound, but the way his
voice trails at times as after certain growls. Either way, they blend into the harmony
created by the band and allow for the braze, groovy sound they play.
Perhaps they were ahead of their time with the many shifts
and tempo variations, or maybe the melodic era was just too sexy for Lemming
Project to get more attention. It’s a shame really, as their sound already had
a mixture of OSDM, melodic and even technical blended into one unique sound,
but sadly, it went mostly overlooked. Definitely
deserves a reissue or remaster at some point.
Highlights: “Maintain” “Lost” “Manipulation” “Brainnight”
Rating: 4
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