Hatriot: The Vale of Shadows

US based Hatriot was originally formed as a vehicle for ex-Exodus front-man Steve "Zetro" Souza to continue to flex his Thrash muscles but to also create a family business of sorts, bringing his sons Cody and Nick in on bass and drums respectively. Fortunately for Exodus and unfortunately at the time for Hatriot, Zetro was invited back to front Exodus once again in 2015. This could have been too big a hole to fill, however Cody stepped up and while continuing his bass duties he also took over on vocal duties for their previous album From Days Into Darkness and remains at the microphone for this latest offering The Vale Of Shadows.

Originally Hatriot, under the stewardship of the elder Souza, was far more of a typical Bay Area Thrash sounding band. However on their previous effort and into The Vale Of Shadows, Hatriot, are now including various other influences into their sound. While at times Cody sounds reminiscent of his famous father he also has his own voice and has brought in more Death growls and screams, which is something Zetro doesn’t do.

The music itself has also incorporated more Hardcore, Metalcore and Death Metal into the otherwise Thrash attack. The musical proficiency is impressive and there are plenty of exciting moments and well structured songs.

Some of the album highlights are the opener “Horns & Halos� which pretty much comes in strong and lays the blueprint for what's to come. “Verminous and Vile� has some nice viciousness mixed with moments of melody, sick riffing and cool lead breaks and solos. “The Twenty fifth hour� musically has a nice blend of slower cool atmosphere with more explosive Thrash with some tasty Death growls. “Mark Of The Tyrant� has some cool Thrash riffing and aggression, Nick doing a great job driving those kick pedals through that bass drum.

My main criticism of The Vale Of Shadows is the vocals. From an Instrumental standpoint the album is absolutely high quality and the songwriting is good too, if not a touch generic. However I just really hate that style of screeching the whole time. I like when Cody uses his Death growls, I think that would improve things, however the high screeching style yelling just sounds like a petulant teenager having a temper tantrum because Hot Topic sold out of his favorite eye-liner. It’s a personal preference thing of course but personally I feel it really detracts from an otherwise very strong album.

Overall the music is very good, the production sounds very clean and modern and there is certainly a lot to like here. However, personally I can’t get past those vocals. It weights down the whole experience for me so I would only recommend it to you if you like those screechy Metalcore and Hardcore vocals or if you are able to just focus on the instruments.

LINE-UP:
Cody Souza- Lead Vocals, Bass
Kosta Varvatakis-Lead Guitar
Kevin Paterson -Vocals, Guitar
Nick Souza-Drums

Tracklisting:
1. Horns & Halos
2. The Hate Inside
3. Forceful Balance
4. Verminous And Vile
5. Clemency Denied
6. The Twenty Fifth Hour
7. Only Red Remains
8. Mark Of The Tyrant
9. Vale Of Shadows
10. Murderous Tranquility
11. Hymn For The Wicked

Added: October 25th 2022
Reviewer: Benjamin Dudai
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 577
Language: english

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