Review: Hate Forest – Against All Odds Review

Band: Hate Forest
Album: Against All Odds
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Ukraine
Label: Osmose Productions
Released: April 25th, 2025

Introduction

One year before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Hate Forest released Hour of the Centaur, a declaration of Ukrainian pride and national sovereignty. It was my album of the year in 2020, with crispy production and adventurous songwriting. Since then, the band has maintained a steady output and is now back with their most overtly political album.

Founded in 1995, Hate Forest emerged as one of the leaders of the Ukrainian black metal scene, releasing genre defining albums like The Most Ancient Ones and Purity throughout the early 2000s. Compared to their fellow countrymen, Hate Forest’s black metal is not folky or epic, but raw, aggressive and straight-forward. In fact, Hate Forest has possibly one of the most unique and distinguished sounds in all of black metal, which has always been a huge selling-point for them.

The bands original run was brief, as they split right before releasing their fourth album, Sorrow, in 2005. However, frontman Roman Saenko revived the band in 2019, now as a one-man show. Their comeback album in 2020 was followed by Innermost, which was another nice addition to their consistent discography. One of my hot takes is that I believe their new output is in fact the best of their entire career. Against All Odds is their third album this decade and cements them as one of the best black metal bands of this decade. The resurgence of Ukrainian black metal is fitting now, as all eyes are on the Slavic nation.

Against All Odds

Tracklist:

1. Werewolves
2. One Way Ticket
3. Devil Is on Our Side
4. Ukranian Thermopylae
5. Mariupol
6. Coprophagus Empire
7. The Reaping Hand
8. Courage

Against All Odds is the third and final part of a trilogy of releases, which previously included Sowing with Salt (2023) and Justice (2024). This trilogy of war-time releases signifies, in my opinion, a new era for Hate Forest, with a more overtly political attitude. Even though the band claims to not be political and deny any modern worldviews and beliefs, these projects are filled with imagery and references in opposition to the history of Russian imperialism. The album’s description on their label’s website ends with the quote Moscovia delenda est, which is a reference to the Roman senator Cato the Elder, who ended all his speeches with the phrase Carthage must be destroyed (Carthage delenda est). The Carthage references don’t end there, as Sowing With Salt is a very deliberate reference to the Romans destroying Carthage at the end of the Punic wars, which supposedly included the sowing of the city with salt. It is clear that the band considers Russia an existential enemy on the level that Carthage was to Rome.

Another major departure from their previous work is that Against All Odds is the first Hate Forest album to feature a live drummer. The drums are supposedly credited to a mysterious “V.” (who may or may not be Vlad, a past collaborator of Roman). While I appreciate the band trying out new things, the live drums don’t really add much for me and maybe aren’t utilized to the best effect. Hate Forest is known for creating these massive yet minimalistic walls of sound, and the programmed drums fit that perfectly.

This brings me to my next point, which is that the mix is noticeably rawer and messier than their previous two projects. Hate Forest has certainly never had clean production, even for black metal standards, but personally, I was a big fan of the crispy clear sound of Hour of the Centaur, for instance. That being said, this more lo-fi approach does give this album an aggressive and desperate feel. You can sense that this is an album coming out of a country in the middle of a war, who knows what bunker it was recorded in. There are moments, like the third riff on the opening track Werewolves, where the mix gets so messy that it’s hard to tell what’s going on with the guitars, and to me that is sadly a problem. Luckily, those moments are few and far between.

The preceding two EPs are worth talking about, as they are part of the same trilogy (it is interesting to complete a trilogy of EPs with a full-length, but why not). I think the songs on these EPs even triumph those on the main album, with some of the best and catchiest melodies in the band’s history. Highlight moments include the outro of Stronghold and the melancholic instrumental chorus on Merciless Cold-Blooded Revenge. I also love the song-structure of Pathetic Nameless Carrion, with a two-minute introduction build-up before the signature, deep growl vocals kick-in, with some rare added synths in the mix too.

The songs of this trilogy don’t shy away from mentioning the horrors of the Ukraine war and placing these events in the wider context of Ukrainian history. Izium Forest refers to the site of a mass grave that was discovered in 2022, where the bodies of 414 civilians were found, including those of 215 women and five children. Our 400 Years Aged Hatred illustrates that the conflict between Russians and Ukrainians is not something that started with the breakdown of the Soviet Union, as Putinist propaganda would have you believe, but has a long history that can be traced back to the 17th century, when the Tsardom of Russia, originating from Muscovy, began its expansion to neighboring regions, including Ukraine. Ukrainian Thermopylae of course refers to the ancient battle of Thermopylae, where the Greek city states defeated the similarly much larger, eastern empire of Persia. As a history buff, I always appreciate these little references in their music.

Conclusion

While I find the first half of Against All Odds to be somewhat lackluster and run-of-the-mill for the band, I think the album finds its groove in the middle with songs like Ukrainian Thermopylae and Mariupol, where the band really plays to their strengths with massive, repetitive riffs. The Reaping Hand has one of those genre-defining icy black metal riffs that could be played to anyone who’s wondering what this genre is all about. I love the way the band is able to variate between the lower and higher registers to portray a wide array of feelings. As always, I have to give special credit to the artwork of this band, which seems somewhat tarot-inspired this time, portraying war-themed violent images like heads on spikes and armored boots trembling down on enemies.

Overall, I don’t think this album reaches the highs of Hour of the Centaur, but it is still an excellent showing from the Ukrainian masters. So go buy it if you want to support artistic freedom. Slava Ukraini!

BMZ Rating: 8 out of 10

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVopK4JUxG4[/embedyt]

Support Hate Forest here: https://www.osmoseproductions.com/hateforest

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