CREEPING FEAR is a French death metal band who formed in 2010. "Hategod Triumph" is their second full length album. They have also released a demo and an EP. On "Hategod Triumph," CREEPING FEAR has written one brutal, sulfuric death metal album. The overall atmosphere is hellish and the soundtrack to devastation itself. The guitar tone is spot on for the creation of huge and dense riffs that just lay on top and wrap their bloody, evil tentacles around the songs.  This album's nightmare fuel is very much born out of the focus on the riffs.

They pull off this hellish feel without having to stick to any one style of death metal and the tempos are varied enough to keep interests high throughout the album's smooth length of eight songs and a runtime of thirty-six minutes and fifteen seconds.   Fast, slow, or even mid paced...CREEPING FEAR is a band that is comfortable at taking these songs through any dimension and "Hategod Triumph," is an album that uses this to its advantage to be one hundred percent uncompromising at every turn.  From beginning to to end, this album will beat you down and then continue to crush your body as you ask for forgiveness—but none will be found here.

The album begins with "Collapse," and immediately begins to tear down the senses even while the band works for building up a near perfect death metal monstrosity.  The dissonant riffs spread out over the song's first minute, picking up more and more layers before going for the throat with Theo's drumming that moves at the brisk pace of lighting but always hold true to what the song needs.

Vocalist and guitarist Clement decides early on to show his vocal capabilities and they are immense to say the least.  Energetic, exciting, and viscous are words that could be used to describe his vocal style but you just need to know it straight up rips and he gives one of the best performances I've heard this year. "Hate Crush Consumes"  high light is the bass: visceral and seemingly unending. It lays down that low end which is so important to create the heaviness that death metal is known for but it still provides it own surgical precision riffs. At the 2:30 mark, the riffs are chopped up and pushed through like a meat grinder for one of the best movements on the album. I love the different approaches this song contains. The first half is the musical equivalent of a freight train. The later half settles into this groove that just paves over everything in its path.

"We Belong To The Crypts" is my favorite track on the album. It has this certain evil yet archaic and ancient feel to it. This track let's the black metal elements really shine too. It's just one more weapon in this band's deadly arsenal. What's more this track perfectly exemplifies what this album is all about. It is nonstop in terms of sonic density and movement but isn't afraid to change it up. With that being said, this song (and the album and a whole) doesn't change to the point where the bands loses its identity or becomes derivative. They certainly have their influences but they know who and what they are as a band. Their sound is definitely their own.

The final track "From Wombs To Battlefields" is a banger of a song. It has a thrash metal feel to it in places especially the riffs around the 51 second mark. As these riffs end and the heavier ones come on, the drums accent the transition well. This song pieces together these different styles with transitions if groove and brutality for seamless song that carries the album to its formidable end.

The underground French metal scene only continues to grow and with "Hategod Triumph" CREEPING FEAR have positioned themselves at the front of this movement. I pity those who stand in their way. It is still early in the year but I've no doubt this album will end up on many a best of death metal list at year's end, including my own. "Hategod Triumph" is a monolith raging beast of an album.