Hello Temple, today I have the great pleasure of reviewing HANDS OF DESPAIR's newborn entitled "Bereft". I didn't know anything about this band, but I got blown away on the first minutes of this album. The Progressive Black Metal played here is inspired. The Montreal born band brings a level of Black Metal that I've rarely heard in Canada, let alone in my home city.

The 10 minute introduction to this album is out of this world; "Reborn" simply threw me off. Usually you start an album by setting up the mood, but this song doesn't only set the mood, it creates a world of its own and kicks you to the ground telling you to stay there and listen. The beat is relentless and progressive, covered by the guitars playing their heart out for 10 full minutes.

"Bereft" is emotionally gripping. Obviously the French lyrics resonate a lot with me, but aside from that, the mix of the clean and the deep guttural voice with the slower beats seems to bring out more feeling from the atmosphere the song is creating.

"Sleeper" brings us right back to the hard Black Metal. The entire 9 minutes of this song is a roller coaster ride between slow and fast paces. I love the importance that they give to the vocal aspects of this song over the drums and guitars; it is actually at the fore-front of most of the entire album.

The next song might be the shortest on the album, but it does a magnificent job at breaking the pace of the record to make you appreciate the rest even more. "Veil" is mostly an instrumental song with some chorus and beautifully crafted guitar riffs and solos.

The album length is over an hour, which is rarity nowadays. It also ends on a high note with "Void", a 15 minute opus that takes you all over the place with everything HANDS OF DESPAIR can dish out. It brings the album to an end with a slow, 3 minute guitar solo that will return you to your feet after dishing out so much metal.

After listening to this beauty, I now have to look up what else this band has done. This is totally worth your time and money if you are into the genre or just love Metal in general.
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