Having racked up three great EPs and a bunch of sick support slots over the past five years or so, Sheffield’s Divine Hatred were definitely ready to enter the big leagues. Their debut full-length, Infections of a Pathogenic Message, does not disappoint.
While very much delivering on their razor sharp brand of death metal-influenced metalcore, the five-piece have also made good use of the extra space to present something more complete and immersive, expanding on some of the Middle Eastern influences that have been scattered throughout their discography thus far, and even sticking a well-placed ambient interlude halfway through the 26-minute onslaught.
At a time when old school deathcore and metalcore and even the brutal death metal-type stuff peddled by a band like Final Resting Place are all decidedly back in vogue, this album should absolutely clean up, and for my money it’s probably the best UKHC LP of the year while we’re at
it.
Divine Hatred guitarist Marcus Moore, who also engineered, mixed, mastered and designed the artwork for the album, was happy to talk me through it:
How did you feel about making the step up to a full-length?
We did three EPs and a bunch of singles so we felt like we were at the point where we had to make an LP. I felt like four EPs, no LPs would stagnate us and never push us into a new realm. We started writing for the LP before our latest EP even came out so that we had enough time to
write, rewrite, record and be happy with the end product.
Was there anything you specifically wanted to attempt with the longer format?
We hadn’t had any guest vocalists since our first EP so we wanted to bring some friends into the mix to offer a range of vocals to the album’s sound, so it was a no-brainer to ask Carson (The Callous Daoboys), Tony (Desolated) and Louie (Peace of Mind) to be a part of it.
With it being a longer format and designed to be an experience, I felt like I had more time to focus on interludes, samples, production techniques so that it isn’t just purely DIY band jams all the way through the album.
With EPs I feel like your job is to basically sum up the band’s sound in under 15 minutes but this felt like we had a world to create for the listener to submerge themselves into.
Are there any new or surprising influences on the record?
We played with the idea of having world music elements to our sound for a while and I feel having nine tracks meant I could spread these out so they felt natural and not forced for the sake of saying we have world music elements.
We had an Oud sample on the intro of our first EP but this time round I bought an Oud and learned how to play it to put it into a song, which then became “No Conscience." We also have a Duduk sample on the intro, which is like a lower tuned flute made of apricot wood, and some Doumbek (goblet drum) sounds on “Blinded By Baseless Pride."
All instruments you would hear in traditional Turkish and Arabic music, which is what I grew up around when I lived in Turkey and the UAE.
What are the main themes of Infections of a Pathogenic Message?
Political and mental health. The name is a metaphor that can apply to feeling your mental state deteriorate over time like a disease spreading. It can also be in reference to how people have allowed far right fear mongering to take over their view on the world.
What can you tell me about the artwork?
The artwork was designed all in-house by me. I pulled in a bunch of ideas ranging from H.R. Giger, The Matrix, and Meshuggah’s visuals. The first draft looked a bit too digital and implied we were a tech/prog band so after a few changes, [so we] moved towards the orange and added textures to age the look of it, it felt more like a clear progression from our older artworks.
We’ve always had a face on artwork so it was only natural to feature one again.
It feels like the death metal-influenced hardcore/metalcore sound has become much more prominent in the last couple of years especially, but you guys had been doing it for a while before that, do you feel proud to have ‘led the charge’ a bit, so to speak?
We’ve always been the “too metalcore for death metal”/“too death metal for metalcore” band since we started. As annoying as it can get, it is rewarding to know we’re doing something different to the point where no one knows where to place us. It’s cool to see bands carry on the sound and fit in the scene now that more bands are embracing mixing subgenres.
Do you feel like you’ve learned much from your experiences playing with some of the big U.S. bands like Sunami, Wristmeetrazor, and The Callous Daoboys?
Definitely. Especially The Callous Daoboys. We played with them at Corporation Sheffield in 2023 and seeing them blow up since then has been so sick. We’ve been friends ever since and getting to see how they write and plan their music has been inspiring.
Watching U.S. bands play and plan their tours is very interesting because these bands are used to touring for 30 days straight so seeing their routine and how they look after themselves on the road is an important lesson for all smaller bands to take note of.
Who are your favourite UKHC bands at the moment?
Headstone, Long Goodbye, Crowquill, False Reality, Mindhold, Cold Blooded, Bathed in Sin, and Vanity.
What are your hopes for the future of Divine Hatred?
We love playing Europe. We’ve been there three times in the space of nine months. We would love to tour there with a bigger band as a support act as we have only been the headliner apart from the odd festival appearance.
We had a great time supporting Headbussa and Sunami in Germany. As much as we love the DIY lifestyle it would be nice to not have to book it, drive it and manage it all ourselves.
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