Eternal Rest – The Picture Of Hatred (Death Metal)

Written by Carcassbomb

• Eternal Rest
• The Picture Of Hated
• Death Metal
• Brisbane, Australia
• June 7, 2019

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Brisbane has been coming out with some pretty awesome metal lately and Eternal Rest are no exception to this. Their third album The Picture Of Hatred has a lot to boast about for a band from such a humble part of the world (arse end of Australia, I’m here too so I can admit it) such as having this release on the American label Gore House Productions, album art from french artist Remy Cooper and being mixed by the iconic Dan Swano (what?!). With this in mind you might be imagining something quite fancy or even melodic… Yeah nah, this album is filthy, often finding itself on the grind side of death. There’s a sense of nihilism and discomfort, so naturally I enjoy it.

There’s a dynamic production value here that highlights the more playful showy riffs and segments while also managing to appropriately muddy the slaughter aspects of the music. It really does create a picture of hatred. Particularly the vocals which are super guttural and sound forceful, similar to Nile and Behemoth‘s “I’m about to lose my shit” vocals. There’s also vocals that border on hardcore but never fully journey there, it’s a nice middle ground that brings some accentuation without affectation.

Here’s some information I got from the band regarding the album art done by Remy Cooper of Head Split Design:

“The subject matter for The Picture of Hatred is still tackling the issues of mental health. Being written from the perspective of a person possessed by anger and misery, it forms the message of negativity breeding negativity. Having a negative outlook on life can paint an awful picture of the world around us in our daily lives. The artwork is a good example of this message. Sometimes having a long hard look in the mirror is what can really make you see who the true artist behind your picture is.” – vocalist Shanon Davern

It’s difficult to be a band for a decade and not run into barriers, there has been some lineup variation over the years but this lineup seems to be in the goldilocks zone for Eternal Rest so I’m glad to hear they’re united in the studio for a follow up in 2020. Considering The Picture Of Hated ends with a track tilted “Awaken, O Fury” it would seem there is still plenty left for the band to say, dark things surely.

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