HATE – Bellum Regiis - A Ritual of Fire and Fury from Poland's Blackened Death Vanguard

“Bellum Regiis oscillates between ritualistic grandeur and punishing efficiency—an ironclad statement from a band that never falters.”

HATE For over three decades, Polish blackened death metal monoliths HATE have maintained a level of consistency few extreme metal acts can rival. From the early days of Daemon Qui Fecit Terram through genre-defining works like Anaclasis and Erebos, to the more recent trilogy of Tremendum, Auric Gates of Veles, and Rugia, HATE have walked a straight yet brutal path. Now, with their thirteenth studio effort, Bellum Regiis, they prove once again that iteration, not reinvention, is their weapon of choice—and that this long-standing war machine is far from done sharpening its blades.

Bellum Regiis, Latin for “War of Kings,” is both a conceptual and sonic excavation into the eternal struggle for power and the cost of dominion. As frontman ATF Sinner explains, the album dives deep into questions of faith, authority, human nature, and the consequences of sacrifice. If Rugia was the distant howl of mystic forces and Slavic esoterica, Bellum Regiis is the roar of the human condition clawing at its cage.

Opening with the title track—an ambitious six-minute epic that features the haunting voice of Eliza Sacharczuk—HATE announce their shift in tone from the outset. This isn’t just a barrage of tremolo riffs and blast beats. There is grandeur here, melancholy, and a sweeping sense of scale that hasn’t loomed this large in the band’s sound since Solarflesh. The symphonic undercurrents and clean vocal layering make “Bellum Regiis” feel almost liturgical, a dark mass for a fallen kingdom.

That theatrical momentum finds a counterweight in “Iphigenia,” a mid-tempo behemoth that trades speed for seismic weight. Drawing from Greek mythology, it anchors the album’s philosophical thread: the notion of self-sacrifice in the pursuit of war and glory. HATE haven’t lumbered this heavily since Crusade: Zero, and the result is punishing and strangely intimate—a knuckle-dragging, ritualistic dirge that feels ripped straight from the battlefield.

The ferocity returns with “The Vanguard,” perhaps the album’s fastest and most viscerally aggressive track. Built on relentless drum work from Nar-Sil and a surprisingly melodic lead motif that erupts and dissolves in cycles, it’s a highlight of the record and a testament to HATE’s ability to balance speed, atmosphere, and groove without sacrificing their core brutality.

Tracks like “A Ghost of Lost Delight” and “Rite of Triglav” build on that dynamic, expanding the soundscape with ambient interludes, war drums, and densely layered textures courtesy of long-time collaborator Michał Staczkun. The former flirts with doom-laden introspection, while the latter acts as a sonic bridge between the record’s ritualistic front half and its more streamlined, classic HATE-flavored back half.

“Perun Rising” and “Prophet of Arkhen” reintroduce mythological touchstones, tying Bellum Regiis back to its Slavic and occult influences. While “Arkhen” originally appeared in Auric Gates of Veles, its return here feels like a narrative continuation. With guitarists Sinner and Domin delivering mechanical yet organic riffing, these later tracks remind us that HATE, while capable of nuance and subtle evolution, are still very much a death metal juggernaut.

The album closes on “Ageless Harp of Devilry,” a song that bridges Bellum Regiis with HATE’s Erebos era, both thematically and musically. It’s a summative moment, combining jagged, blackened riffs with melodic undercurrents and ambient flourishes that reinforce the album’s central question: is our hunger for power what defines us—or what destroys us?

Produced by David Castillo (Candlemass, Katatonia, Carcass), Bellum Regiis sounds massive without losing the grim detail in its architecture. Castillo allows the more atmospheric elements to breathe while keeping the rhythm section appropriately suffocating. It’s the best-sounding HATE record to date, polished without being sterile, intricate without losing its gut-punch.

In many ways, Bellum Regiis plays the same role Solarflesh once did—a pivot point following a trilogy of razor-sharp releases. While Tremendum, Auric Gates of Veles, and Rugia streamlined HATE’s sound into a refined assault, Bellum Regiis brings back the grandeur, the scale, and the haunting philosophical inquiry. It’s not a revolution, but it doesn’t need to be. HATE’s strength has always been in their ability to evolve within a tightly defined frame, and here, they find new ways to make ancient sounds feel eternal.

Thirteen albums deep, HATE are not just surviving—they are thriving. Bellum Regiis is another obsidian monument in a discography already built on stone and fire. Majestic, ferocious, and contemplative, it stands proudly as one of the most nuanced and powerful entries in the band’s storied history.