Hate – ‘Rugia’ CD

Rugia is yet another COVID-19-influenced release, in so much as the writing tentatively began just after the release of the previous album ‘Auric Gates of Veles,’ was set aside due to touring commitments which in turn ground to a halt thanks to the pandemic. Wisely, they diverted their time back to working on this album.

The album title comes from the archaic name of a German island on the Baltic Sea, now called Rügen. In ancient times, Rügen or Rugia was a site of holy pilgrimage to the pagan Slavic people and the very heart of the western Slavic faith, housing the fabled stronghold of Arkona. At its core, this album is a tribute to Rugia, its tribes and the culture they created.

If the intense dark driving onslaught is not enough, there’s no shortage of leadwork bursting its way out of the driving riffs, most noteworthy for me, on ‘Saturnus’ and ‘Sun of Extinction.’ The album seems to take a darker, more eerie turn midway onwards, with the previously mentioned ‘Sun of Extinction’ being particularly dark and hypnotic.

With ‘Rugia,’ they prove once again that no one combines Death and Black Metal with the same degree of hugely engaging brutality as Poland’s Hate. I think this album is an absolute killer.