𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
On December 12, 2012, The Project Hate MCMXCIX released their ninth full-length studio album, The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda via their own label, Mouth of Belial Productions.
It was their first album released on Mouth Of Belial.
Background:
The album features guest appearances by Peter Dolving (ex-The Haunted), Lars Johansson (Candlemass) and Danny Tunker (God Detbroned, Prostitute Disfigurement). The album was made available digitally to those who participated in "The TPH Donation Experiment", which allowed people to donate money directly to the band in order to make it possible for them to record the album. The cover artwork for the effort was created by Marko Saarelainen. The album was mixed by acclaimed Swedish producer and multi-instrumentalist Dan Swanö (Opeth, Katatonia, Dissection).
At the time, due to schedulding conflicts, drummer Tobias Gustafsson (Torture Division, Vomitory) did not take part in the recording sessions for the new album. The drum tracks on the album were laid down by former Soilwork (current Megadeth drummer) Dirk Verbeuren (also Scarve, Devin Townsend Project).
Overview:
The Project Hate have made the heads of many Death Metal purists spin like Linda Blair’s character in the Exorcist, with their mix of traditional Swedish Death Metal, elements of Industrial and Electronic music, and topping that off with a mix of clean, female vocals. But the band, led by Lord K Philipson, have been very successful, while amassing quite a loyal fan-base by sticking to their guns and creating music they want to produce, no matter what the haters have thrown at them.
“I think people were a bit surprised initially that someone took all of these ingredients and made something out of them. Have in mind that I started this in 1998/1999, which is some time ago. What is even more impressive is that I have taken this project to dimensions unknown over the years. I have made it more impressive, deeper and more intricate and still after all these years no one is even close to doing what we do as a whole. What is was about for me was to mix up everything that I listened to and make something unique out of it. If you listen to what we did on the first album it might not be as groundbreaking by today’s standards, but we did this initially many, many years back which is something you have to keep in mind to understand it. After that, I just went all in and decided to work harder and harder on the idea that I had from the beginning, all in the quest of satisfying myself and making a mixture of music no one else is obviously capable of creating. As I have said a million times; we might sound like a lot of bands but there is not one single band that sounds like us. That is the whole point. As far as progression goes, I believe the albums speak for themselves.” — Lord K. (New Noise Magazine)
And I must say, their endeavors have resulted in many fruitful, compelling releases. With The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda (one of my personal favorites), the band created one of their most ambitious albums, featuring songs that are no less than 9 minutes in length. Chock-full of amazing performances on every level, it’s no surprise that Lord K. and crew held nothing back on this release, since the album was funded by fan donations. In no way were The Project Hate about to leave their fans dissatisfied. In an interview with New Noise Magazine, Lord K. explained;
“It was the plan all along when I started to work on the album, to make it something majestic on all accounts. I didn’t just wanna write a bunch of songs and leave it at that; I wanted it to be a full circle album. I made sure everything on there has a meaning and nothing was left to chance. There’s so much time put into this, so many layers, it’s fucking insanity in audio form – controlled, calculated chaos on all accounts. There’s a meaning with The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda. It’s not just an album; it’s an experience into what The Project Hate is all about. It’s gospel. It’s as close to musical perfection as I can come. Next time I’ll make sure I get even closer.”
On December 8, 2012, upon completion of the recording of The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda, Lord K. took to the bands website to discuss the recording of the album and the details behind who was involved in the albums recording. This is what he had to say;
“It’s no secret that The Project Hate is created to satisfy my own musical needs since no other band offer what TPH offers. That’s why I do this. And I have said it so many times, there are a lot of people involved without whom this would be impossible. And when it comes to The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda there’s quite a bunch of them that I wanna say a few things about.”
Jörgen Sandström. My goddamn crony. The one guy who’s been with me since 1999 doing this. That’s a lot of fucken years to be in a band together. I can never imagine TPH without him. I don’t want to do TPH without him. He’s second to none. To have your best friend and the number 1 grunter in the world doing vocals on my musical vision is a blessing. To have that for as many years as we have been going now is even more of a blessing. He’s not exactly the biggest fan of what I do with TPH when it comes to the music. Techno influences and jungle beats on top of brutal and intricate death metal (and beyond) isn’t really his cup of christian blood, but he gives his all every single fucken time there’s a new album to record. And not only that, he tops himself every time he enters the studio with TPH. I have no idea how he does it, but thankful I am. You’re the best, J. The best.
Ruby Roque. My Portuguese powerhouse vocalissa who’s one of the sweetest gals around. I’m so happy I found her since she is absolutely astonishing. She came in on Bleeding the New Apocalypse and just crushed everything. She helped bringing my vision closer to perfection. Instead of stagnation we took a huge step forward. Some didn’t like the change in vocals, most did. I couldn’t care less. She was needed for me personally. From the second I heard her the first time I knew I had to have her in TPH. This kid can do it all. She’s got the power, she’s got the softness and the emotions I am after to implement in our music. And on TCRA we have explored it all. You will hear different sides of her on TCRA, becoz now was the time for it. She probably hated me a bit while recording TCRA, she never said it though. But it was needed. I wanted to push her, I wanted to criticize her to make her even better. To make her deliver to the best of her abilities, more so than ever before. And that is exactly what she has done. This kid is truly a phenom and I so cherish her involvement in TPH. She’s a lioness. I applaud her endlessly.
Dirk Verbeuren. I have a few fave drummers in this world. Sean Reinert, Gene Hoglan, Tobben Gustafsson, Nicke Andersson, Ed Warby. That’s pretty much the ones. It’s not exactly a laundry list of drummers. And Dirk’s always been one of my absolute faves. Even to the point where I have went to one of his drum clinics, and I don’t even care about drum clinics in the first place. That says quite a bit. When Tobben Gustafsson decided to step down for the recording of TCRA due to lack of time it put me in a tricky situation. Who the fuck was going to play? I mean, we’re not playing the most advanced kind of music, but I demand more from the drumming in TPH than the work of Regular Joe, if you know what I mean. I wanted someone with a recognizable style. Someone who, just like Tobben, plays like he means it. There are too few of such drummers in the world. Since I had met Dirk a couple of times on some festivals, and expressed my admiration for his drumming on more than one occasion in the process, I thought I could at least ask him if he thought he could do it. Not only that, but if he could do it and not get paid like he should be or normally is. Sounds like a sweet deal huh? You get to play on 15 minutes songs with so many parts it’s not even sane AND not get paid accordingly. Or even reasonably. I must be one absolutely lovable bastard to make such an awesome offer work. Fuck knows if I had been Dirk I would have said no. Dirk said yes with some restrictions (such as doing it when time allowed it). Still to this day I have no idea why he decided to help us out on this album, coz it sure as fuck couldn’t be becoz of the great payday. He is a Torture Division fan, maybe that helped, haha… Anyways, it’s a dream for me to have Dirk’s drumming on this album. I never thought that would happen in a million years. Dirk’s one of the nicest guys I have ever met in this business, and I have met a lot of people. Not only is he an absolute phenomenon when it comes to laying down beats, he’s so friendly, so determined and so awesome to work with I understand why you won’t find a single bad word about him on the Internet, nor hear anyone badmouth him in the least. I can never thank him enough for the work he’s done on TCRA. It’s drumming orgasms 24/7. Which leads us to…
Tobben Gustafsson. Naturally we had to include my other close friend and Torture Division comrade, Tobben, in some other way since he didn’t have the time to do this album drumming wise. So, the natural move for a drummer who’s not drumming would be to… Well, guess you’ll see that when you have the album in front of you. It was actually Tobben’s idea about his inclusion that came to fruition, and it did wonders for the specific part in the song he’s in. Thanx, Golden T.
Peter Dolving. Peter is one of those guys that I have always respected a shitload. A truly excellent vocalist and multi-talented musician who rubs a lot of people the wrong way with his honesty and opinions. I salute such human beings and I support them a hundred percent, maybe becoz I am one of them, haha… I have been wanting to do something with Peter for quite some time and I knew that if I approached him about it, and he accepted, I would get something more than your normal guest vocals. Well, you could say that I did. I asked him to do a few things for TCRA and what I got was something like 10 different files that when put together became absolute annihilation. I knew he wouldn’t make something simple. I knew he would take the fucken ball and run with it. That guy is a genius and I am honored to have him on board on TCRA. Respect. Total respect, Peter.
Lars Johansson. It feels like I am repeating myself with these “dreams come true” things, but prepare yourself for another one – coz here it comes. When I was a young teenager I used to go to Candlemass concerts as often as possible, simply becoz they were (and to some extent still are) one of my fave bands. I used to be in their fan club and got to meet the guys once or twice for autographs and so forth. That was huge being a kid, you know. A few years back I ran a blog that dealt with tons of awesome stuff and in some post I directed a message directly to Lars that I wanted some solos from him for this album I am currently working on since he’s a fantastic guitarist and I always loved his playing. Have in mind I hadn’t really ever talked to him, and even less so since I left teenagedom, haha… One day I get a mail saying:
“The guitar and I are ready / LJ”.
That was all.
And now Lars is doing a bunch of solos on MY album?! Solos that are so amazing I further understand why I never gave a fuck about learning how to play them myself. You can’t really teach yourself to play like that. Either you have it or you don’t. Not only is Lars another one of those incredibly awesome people to be around, he’s a guitarist I admire to the fullest and to have him playing on TCRA is blowing my mind. Just wait until you hear his stuff. Oh, and not to forget; the guitar he’s used for his parts is of course the very same one used on Candlemass’ Nightfall album. Becoz it was the only demand I had, haha… Thank you, Lasse. Thank you so fucken much.
Magnus Söderman. And this fucken guy… I used to play with Magnus in a Swedish band called Rosicrucianback in the early 90’s. He even did all the guitar solos for the first album I ever recorded, Leukemia‘s Suck My Heaven, back in 1993 or so. He played the fuck out of everyone even back then and it’s not like he’s gotten worse over the years. You might remember him from a TPH album released a few years back as well. Once again Magnus helped out on very short notice when the amazing Mike Wead had to step down. I so appreciate it, Magnus. And the work he’s done is just brilliant, as always. The fact that this guy is not playing in a huge metal band is so wrong on so many levels.
Danny Tunker. Tobben actually said to me, when he heard about Mike Wead stepping down, “- You remember Danny that we met in Holland, who sorted the guitar sound for you on stage. Ask him to play some leads coz he’s awesome”. If Tobben says so – I listen. And so I contacted Danny and explained the situation. He gladly accepted the invitation and how he delivered – GODDAMN! We had some fun times of total confusion with me missing some files he sent, talks about changing some drumbeats (which we didn’t, I might add, haha) and whatnot to fit one of the solos since the pre-production had different patterns than what Dirk put down in the end. It all turned out fucken fantastic and Danny delivers with the best of them. Kudos for stepping up on such short notice and delivering stuff I could never, ever even dream about doing myself.
Petter S. Freed. You remember Petter. He played with TPH for quite a bunch of years and is still to this day one of my best friends as well as an excellent guitarist. I didn’t originally plan to include Petter, it just happened as he was over visiting me. There was this part in a song where I felt I could need another solo and was about to ask one of the already included guys if they could do it before it dawned on me that, of course, Petter must play it. He turned in a killer performance in a nicely, at the time, alcohol infused environment (The Dungeon) in one fucken take. Feels great to have Petter in here as well considering the insane amount of music we have been writing together over the years. Thanx, Mazza.
Marko Saarelainen. My brother from another mother. Or sister from another blister. Whatever, you get the point. The visual stuff Marko’s done for us since a hundred years back… I don’t even know where to begin. He’s the one member of the band who actually isn’t playing an instrument, but he’s still as important to us as everyone else involved in TPH. Marko takes as much pride in how he presents us artwork wise and website wise as we do music wise. What he has cooked up for the booklet and actual album cover is astonishing. It reflects what this album is about just perfectly.
We would be half the band without Marko. Thank you for always being there for us.
Dan Swanö. Dan recorded the first ever demo with TPH. That was quite some time ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Me and Dan have known and worked with each other since the early 90’s and he understands me perfectly. What he has done with the production for TCRA is just fantastic. Of all of our productions, this one is definitely my favorite. We had quite a few sessions (as always when it comes to this particular thing) before I was happy with the bass sound – but that was also pretty much the only hassle during this mixing process, and it wasn’t even much of a hassle. He’s outdone himself on TCRA. The production is crystal clear and heavy as fuck. With that incredible bass sound on top of it all. There is no one I rather work with but Dan. Cheers for being the best, D. And cheers for not saying a thing about my 4 million minor corrections every time we do TPH, haha… Let’s do it again, asap.
"Writing and recording TCRA has been a truly phenomenal experience in all aspects. It’s all gone very smoothly and now I have the result in my hand. Almost 2 years of work completed, and it’s been worth every second of it. It will be real interesting to top this album when the time comes. I know myself quite well and guess I will start writing for it shortly, in small doses, when I least expect it. It will be a monumental task to match this monster of an album, that’s for sure. But if I felt we can’t do it – I wouldn’t write music in the first place. TCRA holds every fiber of what I am and what I have become over the years by being able to work with the best of musicians and friends, people who assist me in reaching my own personal musical perfection. This is as close as I have ever been to that."
The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda is the epitome of The Project Hate MCMXCIX. — Lord K.
Critical Reception:
In a review on December 26, 2012 for Stormbringer.at, Reini stated;
"The songs are even more sprawling, the arrangements even more detailed, the vocals by Jörgen Sandström (Growls) and the fantastic Ruby Roque even more differentiated and the production by Dan Swanö tops all TPH releases by far.
Of course, it is almost impossible to go into detail about individual songs here - six tracks, which are carried by just as many instrumental interludes, not a song under nine minutes, a musical journey of discovery, which only reveals its true genius under the headphones, a hodgepodge of ideas, stylistic turns and influences; You can hardly tease out highlights from this refuge of greatness, but conspicuities can...
This album is nothing but afukken Masterpiece and the only thing I'm really worried about: How the hell does good Lord K. ever want to top this masterpiece, despite all his enthusiasm and musical genius?
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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