Review by Michael on September 6, 2026.

“A Hatred Manifesto” is the second album by Cuban Narbeleth and the first one on the German black metal label Folter Records. Although it is a grim, raw and rough piece of black metal, it already shows the direction in which the later releases are going to point. Kicking off with some minor tremolo picking, the track ‘Total Isolation’ is more or less depressive black metal and kept quite simple.

But this slightly monotonous interpretation of what black metal should be is pushed aside with the second track, ‘Breathing A Wind Of Hatred’. Here, the boundaries of Dakkar, who worked on the album all on his own, become more extended, and some other influences, like thrash or even death metal, become more obvious. From that moment on, the music becomes more diverse, more melodic, and much catchier.

Nevertheless, you can find some more limited parts in the songs that reveal a lack of really groundbreaking compositional skills. Don’t get me wrong, the songs are okay, but something is still missing on “A Hatred Manifesto”. ‘Rotten To The Core’ is a good example. When it comes to the catchier mid-tempo parts that sound a little bit Celtic Frost-influenced, all is fine, but these outbursts of hatred are still too one-dimensional, at least for me.

The most remarkable tracks on Narbeleth’s sophomore album are, at least in my humble opinion, ‘Land Of The Heathen’, which features some clear vocals and good songwriting, and the following track, ‘Posercorpse’ (despite the slightly infantile title). This one has some aggressive riffing and some cool twists that make the song more remarkable than the rest. And the cherry on top is a cover version of Urgehals’ ‘Nyx’, which sounds much more dynamic than the rest and really kicks ass.

But as I said, this is the second full-length by Narbeleth, and for that, it is quite fine. Another band that I often think about while listening to this one is Swiss Samael. I find some parallels here, first when it comes to the production, which is quite cold and sterile. But the guitar sounds and the vocals also sound quite similar to what the pioneers from the pocket-knife country did on their debut, “Worship Him”. And if you have this 1991 album in mind, you will probably remember that not everything on it was pure gold. They were also in their infancy back then and evolved with every further step.

The basis for Narbeleth’s future is laid with “A Hatred Manifesto”, and even if the hatred on this one isn’t as profound as it might have been back in 2014, a lot of hatred will follow with the later releases, which I will come to next.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10 hate manifestos