Review by Adam M on September 7, 2009.

Elenium has a manner of crafting of fairly brutal approach to complement technical styles and they come across as an entity with a one of a kind sound. There’s also of note a distinct symphonic approach to be found here that elevates their thoughts to different levels of complexity. It’s not overwhelming complicated though as it seems just the number of elements contributing to the whole make for a lot going on at a time. The music doesn’t really transcend into the realm of being avant-garde either, but merely shows enough progression to fall within that genre’s mindset.

The songs go into large crescendos and build up momentum into different territories quite well as they continually progress. This never becomes pompous over-indulgence, however, as the band are able to maintain control of their style quite well. They traverse the various territories quite solidly and the guitar playing is appropriately complex and varied. The biggest problem I have with the disc is that it doesn’t sound like anything particularly special and that’s what you might hope for from a progressive band of this type. The songs lack that special something to make them appropriately catchy or to draw you into what you’re hearing so it won’t let go. This makes them at time seems like sort of superficial progressive music, but there is enough good stuff to derive from the songs that they’re worth listening to.

The jaded rhythms Elenium maintain have some merit in their wares, but they don’t transcend the levels of being overly interesting at any point. This work has a unique flair and can be quite entertaining, but just doesn’t raise the bar enough to be truly involving.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6.5
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 6.5
Originality: 8
Overall:7.1

Rating:7.2 out of 10

Review by Tobias on March 26, 2001.

I’d have to say that the prospect of two primary vocalists for a metal band always sounds great, and this certainly piqued my interest enough to check out this disk. After a good listen however, I realized that I spent more time trying to classify Haste than giving it a really close listen to list the pros and cons.

Strangely enough, Century Media has billed Haste as "hard rock"… or, more accurately, they have stated that Haste have "raised the bar that hard rock albums must face in 2001." Well, considering that this music is more along the lines of semi-melodic death metal forged with low-density distortion, giving it a much more raw punk/hardcore sound, I suppose you could say the statement is true if can possibly even consider Haste as part of the hard rock scale.

Once I decided that Haste most definitely is a much more obnoxious beast than a "hard rock" labeling would allow, I gave it another listen. Compared to most death metal, the drums were seriously toned down, more along the lines of punk bands like Shiner or Quicksand. The guitar also had that same kind of raw punkish feel, but it was a strangely depressing sound. While I will gladly applaud Haste for their somewhat radical approach to metal vocals, exhibiting the raucous and maniacal raw style of Fred Durst on Limp Bizkit’s debut Three Dollar Bill Y’all, I have to say it got really boring and monotonous. Haste must’ve figured that might be a problem, so they threw in an occasional clean melody. Unfortunately, their cure for monotony flops quicker than Sylvester Stallone film festivals.

I have to say that there wasn’t a single piece of this album that grabbed me. I think that Haste has a decent concept going, but the vision for making something great out of it seems to be lacking.

Bottom Line: If repeatedly running head on into a wall while some animated jackals slap together a death/punk/hardcore/I-wish-I-had-a-melody sandwich, by all means grab this disc. For my own ears, I need a little more skill and a little less monotony.

Rating: 3 of 10