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If you arrive late on the scene then please remember to bring something fresh with you.

Norway’s The Hate Colony would do well to remember that piece of advice. They chug, shred and groove in all the right places and even throw in a couple of electronic breaks that break up the monotony of brutality now and then, but the overall impact just seems stale when compared to many of the major players in metal in 2014. At no point do they ever sound entirely like themselves, this despite Blood Runs Black being the sort of thing you imagine easily would inspire circlepits the world over. If they could escape the confines of the mosh metal genre they find themselves in, then there could be a potentially very good band in our midst. As it is at the moment, they desperately need to focus their effort internally to concoct something special. And they could do a lot worse than looking at the snaking, electro pulse of album highlight Solitude as a blueprint.

Via Self-Released

Since blagging his way onto the Hammer team a decade ago, Stephen has written countless features and reviews for the magazine, usually specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal, and still holds out the faint hope of one day getting his beloved U2 into the pages of the mag. He also regularly spouts his opinions on the Metal Hammer Podcast.