Haterush - Baptised In Fire

Published March 07 2007

*=Staff's pick	Baptised In Fire Salvation Ending All The Rage Damned Nation Demon Dealer The Chalice Empire Soulsearcher Jester's Fool Out Of Reflection Frantic Soul Sorrow Danger Witching Hour

Genre	Heavy/Power Metal	Stefan Embretsson	Vocals
Tracks	14	Jan Sandberg	Guitar
Runningtime	62 Min.	Carl Berglund	Guitar
Label	Black Mark	Mats Vassfjord	Bass
Release	12 March 2007	Richard Holmgren	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	Primal Fear, Wolf, Edguy, Hammerfall

Haterush, the name made me expect something utterly heavy and I feared that some ill sounding hardcore would blast into my ears. Lucky for me it was something much more enjoyable with speed and melody, namely power metal. Baptised In Fire is the second album from these Swedes whose intentions are to combine the energy of heavy metal with a melodic touch of the heavy eighties, and that is something that they do indeed. Power metal is the most present element in their music and with their speedier songs, like Ending All The Rage and Demon Dealer for instance, they combine speed, melodies and the eighties in the same manor Hammerfall did on their debut album Glory To The Brave.

The vocals are good, not to far from Tobias Sammet of Edguy at times, although they tend to be coming out a bit whining partly. Edguy comparisons can apart from the vocals be found at more places as well, for example sound wise, where the earlier sound of Edguy makes itself reminded in the songs that are more restrained in speed like with the mid-tempo track Damned Nation. Moreover, when Haterush are putting the more melodic power metal to the side and let the eighties metal take over a little more, a band like Swedish Wolf comes to mind.

Haterush is doing a fine job of combining the eighties metal with the power metal, all wrapped up with an apparent Swedish sound, although it never really grips me. Sure, I hum along or are stomping the pace and nodding my head to the music, but Haterush leaves my head as soon as the music stops. Still, the songs have character and even if the album could be shorter in numbers it never becomes repetitive, but nevertheless it feels to be done to much by the standard formats at the end of the day.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	2	5	4	6

Summary
4,5 chalices of 10 - Thomas