Hot on the hellish heels of Descendent the Black Throne - released to critical acclaim - comes INVOCATION SPELLS' highly anticipated third album, The Flame of Hate. Ever aptly titled, The Flame of Hate bursts into being immediately, igniting a sulfurous conflagration from the first few notes. Indeed, this is very much the INVOCATION SPELLS the metal underground has quickly come to worship: harsh, hammering blackthrash imbued with that ancient filth 'n' fury that can only come from South America, and specifically the duo's cult homeland of Chile. But as the album evolves, often at a breakneck pace, it becomes poignantly apparent that INVOCATION SPELLS have advanced as songwriters.
Granted, much of Descendent the Black Throne had a special magick that helped it elude easy "blackthrash" categorization - namely, through an acute balance between the bestial and more classically speed metal tropes - but the molten, even martial pulse the band employ here turns these more deliberately hypnotic spells of possession into veritable anthems of minimalism, spilling poison and black blood in equal measure, and giving new rise to the term "headbanging."
And just like its predecessor, the recording across The Flame of Hate locates that elusive middle-ground between fuck-off raw and clear/cutting, with each incensed-yet-impassioned note ringing out through the humid haze before mangling the mind with quintessentially Chilean diabolism. At eight compact songs, The Flame of Hate wastes no time and demands repeat ignition, each glowing/glowering ember lighting the way to absolute possession. The Flame of Hate burns to the touch, and INVOCATION SPELLS dare you to take this torch!
