Artist: Hate Forest
Country: Ukraine
Label: Osmose Productions
Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP
Year: 2024

As a youngster getting into Black Metal around the turn of the millennium I was extremely impressed by Hate Forest’s debut album, ‘The Most Ancient Ones’ (2002) which I was able to grab on cassette tape, purely based on the great band name, at Black Abyss Productions from Rotterdam, one of my favourite distros at the time. Since internet back then was not as developed as it is today, I had the impression this was a compilation of older tracks, based on the title. Having been so blown away by the sheer brutality of the music I could hardly imagine how a proper full-length would sound like, if these tracks I was listening to were only demos… The Hate Forest material that I heard later on was, however good, not as monumental as ‘The Most Ancient Ones’ was to me back in 2002.

Of course, later on I learned that what I was able to pick up was actually their first full-length album, but I was not entirely wrong as a lot of the songs on ‘The Most Ancient Ones’ already appeared on previously released demos. However you slice it, the damage was done, the impression it left was everlasting. That album turned out being one of the fundamental cornerstones for my love for Black Metal as a whole. Fast forward to 2019/2020, the moment of Hate Forest’s unannounced return, I was again pleased with ‘Hour Of The Centaur’, an album that had a similar down-tuned and heavy propulsive sound. That unique Hate Forest sound, massive and brutal. In the waning moments of 2022 the band returned with ‘Innermost’, an album that showed the band with a slightly different sound. Sharper and fiercer, but while that seemed to work pretty well on these songs, its impact was significantly less.

That much beloved crushing and truly one of a kind sound makes a grand return on ‘Justice’, the band’s latest EP. While this is presented as part two of a trilogy, of which the ‘Sowing With Salt’ 7” EP from last year was the opening part, ‘Justice’ sounds more brutal than Hate Forest has done in many years – frankly, not since ‘The Most Ancient Ones’. On the ‘Sowing With Salt’ 7” EP the band had composed a style that still had a bit of that sharper guitar tone and due to ambient-like keyboards a thoroughly melodic character – albeit with Roman Saenko’s thunderous roar, providing the necessary contrast. In hindsight I think we can see ‘Sowing With Salt’ as a transitional EP that led up to the release of this massive return in the form of ‘Justice’.

Osmose Productions describes the EP as being down to earth, warlike and gory, “unlike other pre-war releases”. I think that pretty much captures what ‘Justice’ is about, it indeed sounds more frantic, vengeful and overall ferocious than on the last few recordings. However short, clocking in just over the 20-minute mark, Hate Forest makes a musical statement like only Saenko can. Free of moody keyboards and only with the slightest of subtle melodies the three major tracks of the EP relentlessly go for the throat. Judging from the lyrics (and cover), it is abundantly clear that Saenko put the horrific and unjust violence inflicted on his country and people by the Russian aggressor into music.

To seal the EP fittingly, Saenko comes with a cold, sinister and terrifyingly droning piece of ambient/industrial/martial, titled ‘Izium Forest’. As we all know the heartbreaking images of blitzed Ukrainian towns and villages, this post-apocalyptic composition is a more-than-confrontational piece that once again makes you wince. ‘Justice’ is an overwhelming EP that not only showcases the massive power of Hate Forest, but also feels like the soundtrack to the unwavering strength of the Ukrainian people.