Search - Pro Pain :: Fistful of Hate

PRO-PAIN stays angry -- top notch thrash/speed/core metal

Juan Carlos Velez | Charleston, SC, USA | 04/25/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Very few bands have released 8 full-lenght albums maintaining the same style and PRO-PAIN can be proud of it. "FISTFUL OF HATE" is their last release and once again, a solid one. Overall, a very good album, not a masterpiece though and i'll tell you why. It starts with "Can you feel it?" and "Left for Dead": the first 2 tracks and clearly my favorites: full of angry, moshy and catchy riffing along with devastating double drumming, and with that classic PRO-PAIN mid-tempo/speed pace that will blow your mind away. Then, "Godspeed" and "American dreams" introduce a new face for the band, with clean vocals on chorus; I personally don't like it. It gives me a sensation of uncertainty for what could happen in the next album. I hope PRO-PAIN doesn't fall into that "nu-new-metal" crap with that "bi-dimensional vocals" non-sense. Gary Meskhil's vocals are like a flag for them and should never be changed. Still, those tracks are not bad, and heavy indeed. "Imploded" delivers blasting double drumming, not a fast song but brutally intense. "Aftermath" and "Freedom Rings" don't stand out as great songs but they do have PRO-PAIN written on them all over the place, like "Cut throat". The instrumental "Better half of forever" is without a doubt one of the stars of the album: energetic and full of breaking rhythm changes; shows their maturity. The last 2 song bring back what the first 2 do: "Lost horizons" and the title track "Fistful of hate" are demolishing: thrash/speed/core metal as its best. In summary, if you are looking for the usual PRO-PAIN sound you will definitely find it. This album is not as consistent as "Contents under pressure" or "Round 6", but still very good and a mandatory piece for true thrashcore listeners. If you don't know the band, they have a unique style and is difficult to tell you what bands are similar, but i would mention Hatebreed, Merauder, Slayer, Pissing Razors, The Haunted, Pantera. Get it."

On top of their game

Tommy-O! | 03/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These guys just will not go away. They've been around for close to fifteen years and they haven't changed much at all. This album is along the lines of most of their other stuff which is fine by me. They haven't folded to any trend, they've stuck to their guns and still, amazingly, people consider them a "new" (or should I say "nu"?) band. Fistful of Hate makes a case for their best effort yet. The album starts off with the amazing "Can you feel it?". They lay it all out of track one and if that doesn't convinced you nothing will, so go buy the latest Metallica album and keep calling yourself a metalhead. They follow up with 'Left for Dead', another album highlight as well as 'American Dreams', 'Godspeed', 'Lost Horizons', and the instrumental 'The better half of forever'. They prove once again that they're not afrad to experiment and they'll break before they bend. To me, Pro-Pain is among the best in the business. I'm glad to see that among all these trendy, "tune-down-and-scream-about-breaking-up-with-your-girlfriend" bands, there is still one group who aren't afraid to craft pounding riffs, brutal solos, and griding vocals into honest metal."