Rule of Thumb
Triangle of Hate
6.1
Belgian Death Metal. Never did I think I'd see those words in conjunction, but than again Vader proved me wrong when it came to Polish Death Metal. Rule of Thumb hails from Belgium with their latest EP Triangle of Hate. This band knows what they are doing when it comes to brutality. They have a mix of some Slayer, some old-school death, and some slightly melodic elements, while never comprising the heavy stuff. Triangle of Hate also encompasses some really heavy breakdowns from inside the eye of the storm.
The hard hitting crunch of this album begins with the first song "I Am" that contains the good old-fashioned triplets for the guitars which really get your head banging. This is also where you get your first sampling of the clean vokills from the album; which are my only overall complaint. The thing is, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. While the death vokills (which sound similar to Decapitated) always come across flawlessly, there's the clean stuff that occasionally surfaces. In the third song "R.U.S.T." they come across really well, while in the last song "Triangle of Hate", they feel forced and kind of ruin the effect of the final moments of the song. Never do they detract from the entire album though.
This is a very noteworthy effort from Rule of Thumb, and I have a feeling this won't be the last we'll hear from these Belgians. With crushing songs like "R.U.S.T." and my favorite song from the EP, "A Rotting Core", it won't be too long before these guys get a crushing full length LP out there.
