Review by Greg on December 2, 2023.

I spent a lot of good words regarding cult Canadian act Aggression's return to the scene, 2016's Fragmented Spirit Devils, which only narrowly missed the opportunity to become the absolute masterpiece of the band. After another forgettable output, the old guard is back with From Hell with Hate, which saw the light just a couple of weeks ago. Right from its artwork, I was logically expecting a continuation of the same peculiar concoction of styles heard on their comeback, meaning a brand of thrash that isn't definable as proper 'black/thrash', but with evident blackened aesthetics and the odd tremolo riff every once in a while. After a spin, the tracklist feels appallingly similar. I mean, the fourth track is yet another interlude with angelic choirs and hissing growls above it – what were the odds?

Getting the worst immediately out of the picture this time, that means that From Hell with Hate devolves into its least interesting self as well, as tracks go by. Maybe there isn't that vague sensation of light-heartedness found in the Nazareth cover or in 'Strangulation Ejaculation', but again, once punk rears its head, once can't help but notice the slight decline in quality. The friendly 'Let's Burn This Church to the Ground' and the speed-esque 'The Nightstalker' are adequately fun, and so is the late highlight 'Worthy of Death', with a chorus that sounds tailor made for the mosh, but I couldn't find much of value in 'Crows of Still Creek' or the overlong closer 'Left Hand Larceny', where main man Denis Barthe, now also in charge of the vocals, sounds a bit inconsistent too. On the upside, we still got some killer blows in the first part – the incredibly old school 'Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum', the unsettling 'Antichrist Devil Cunt', complete with female choirs, and the re-recording of the debut's 'Frozen Aggressor' – though no song here matches the brilliance of Fragmented Spirit Devils' initial, scorching triplet ('Chapel of Horrors', 'Unleashing the Ghost', 'Halo of Maggots'), and the departure of Brian Langley tones down the death intensity a bit, even if Barthe does a commendable job on those.

Overall, From Hell with Hate falls victim of the same ol' pitfalls. We're still talking about a band who's releasing consistently strong albums more than 30 years after they started out, but even this time, I can't pretend I'm not partially disappointed.

Rating: 7.6 out of 10