Review by Lawrence Stillman on February 3, 2024.

After being strangely obsessed with listening to death/doom for months but without the time nor motivation to actually do it (thanks procrastination/university finals!), I've finally decided that its time and proceed to look for the filthiest, slimiest, most pulverizing death/doom that exists out there. Well that was a fucking mistake because I am utterly unprepared for what was in store for me.

Dragged Into Sunlight is a British band that is surprisingly recent to the genre, being founded in 2006 when most of the big names like Disemboweled and Winter have been around for over a decade by that point. But this does not make their debut any less impactful because unlike those 2 bands, their first (and fortunately not the only) album starts with a short sample from Charles Manson then immediately pummels you with song headcrushing riffs and relentless drumming, catching me off guard and never letting my ears go until the album ends, with various snippets from serial killers as a brief reprieve. Scratch that, you cannot even take a break during the samples because some were played during some really heavy sections, and oh God do they fit into those sections.

I have never listened to a combination of black/death/doom/sludge that is as heavy, despairful, and intimidating as this, not even bands like Revenge or Knelt Rote. While the latter two bands played music that is ultimately just fast as a means of expressing themselves, what DiS managed to do is giving the hatred, malice, and evil of mankind into an audible form. Maybe doom was really the missing link to true expression of evil in music.

Everything about this album just screams raw and unfiltered, and much like the evils of these serial killers have done to their victims. You can feel the cold hearts of these motherfuckers (serial killers) and their raw misanthropy coming from the music itself, if anything I feel Hatred For Mankind is a name TOO fitting for this album, to the point I cannot imagine any other album bearing this name without sounding just as evil and raw. This is an album not for listening, but for torture sessions like an enhanced interrogation technique (Jokes on you, I'm into that shit!) seen in 24.

Although I enjoyed every single second of the album, I do have some criticisms towards this album. For one, the samples do get stale pretty quickly considering how frequent they utilize these elements. Another downside is that the songs are REALLY draining to listen to, to the point I would not listen to this at all if I'm not fully energized, this album is so fucking evil it can suck out every bit of mental stamina from you, to the point that I would describe listening to this as an endurance test.

Bloody well done you fucking tea addicts, you managed to create something so crushing, so evil, that most people who listened to this cannot help but recoil in fear from the sheer raw hatred and misanthropy coming from this album, and I cannot thank this band enough for creating such a depressing masterpiece.

In hindsight I should have begun my death/doom journey with Into Darkness.

Rating: 9.4 out of 10

Review by TheOneNeverSeen on February 1, 2023.

While looking for "evil" metal albums, I came across a Reddit post advising this band. The name seemed curious to me and I’ve decided to check the debut album out. And I can guarantee that so far it was one of the best recommendations I’ve got in my whole life.

Without any introduction, the album plunges at you with raw, infernal guitars alongside ferocious drumming. The sporadic inhuman screeching and growling are nicely merged with creepy audio samples adding to the album’s atmosphere (unlike in the case of Mortician, where they merely make the songs two times longer and get annoying over time, here they make the album much grimmer). Despite the consistent evil mood, the album is not mere white noise and shifts between black/death metal riffs ("Boiled Angel", "Volcanic Birth") and... thrash? solos (such as the one of "Buried with Leeches"). The album’s genre is generally hard to define considering some songs (like "To Hieron") reassemble death metal/grindcore spirit (change the production and the guitar sound, and you will get a great track for Misery Index’s debut), some follow a more death metal structure ("Boiled Angel") and some ("Lashed to the Grinder and Stoned to Death", " I, Aurora") seem to be a mixture of everything humanely possible. This adds to the album’s diversity and thus makes it even more entertaining.

Consistency-wise, the release is quite solid. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed all of the songs equally, yet I didn’t find any of them weak compared to the rest of the album or too long and repetitive. The melody development is uneven (same as the track length), which is another strength of the album. Even the instrumental ambient outro "Totem of Skulls" is skillfully written and doesn’t feel excessive. So far, "Hatred for Mankind" is one of the most diverse metal works I have ever heard.

The lyrics are rather primitive, but it’s understandable considering the vast majority of the album is instrumental (when the vocals do join the party, they are simply flawless at their rampage). Besides, they aren’t particularly bad and do contain a few OK lines, such as "Clench your teeth, fall to your fucking knees/Inhuman pain, crippled with misery" of "Volcanic Birth" or "Spears thrust to the skies above,/Baptized in tides of blood,/In thunderous rage,/Before the throne of plagues" of "To Hieron".

In conclusion, "Hatred for Mankind" is a terrific album for all extreme metal fans. It has a grim atmosphere, harsh vocals, suitable heavy production and a brutal artwork. Just what I required today.

Rating: 9 out of 10