Bras D’Honneur – Hate Speech (Militant Blackened Death Metal)

 

I mean what needs to be said here? I’d keep it brief, but my hands demand something of substance. Consisting of members of some of the hardest bands in history (Drudkh, for example), Bras D’Honneur take the French “arm of honor” and create from it not merely a lewd gesture, but an entire pathway to pain that goes from the metaphorical to the physical. You’d think it was all superficial, but there’s far more to this album’s title of Hate Speech than a surface reading would suggest. Is it about, gulp, that kind of speech? No, it’s about words that bring to the fore everything horrid about the human race. No race in particular, just humanity itself and everything we’ve done to each other.

   

If you’re not getting my meaning, track titles such as “Trench Knife,” “Goat Rapists,” and “Judas Cradle” capture every century of human terror since time was first recorded. It’s a chronicle of all our worst faults, and expectedly barbaric. One high point is that in spite of the murky ferocity with which everything is delivered, Bras D’Honneur manage to pull from this forsaken abyss, precise, machine-like hooks that immediately flay and hang the skin to dry. They’ll likely take you by surprise. It’s rather amazing, but then again considering the years of experience behind the formation of this band, I suppose it’s not at all. Hate Speech is unflinching in its aggression worship, and if you blink you’ll likely find yourself sliding slowly down a pike you never felt rammed into your torso.

 

Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls

Bras D’Honneur – Hate Speech
Primitive Reaction
Cover Art: Костянтин Копач / Konstantyn Kopacz (Warhead Art)
4.5 / 5