Listen hard to Theory of Hate

Theory of Hate’s debut release “Puppets in Blood” is a scream-a-thon speed metal experiment of the macabre sort.

In the opening track, “Puppets in Blood,” I was able to pick out the lyrics “Puppets in Blood,” as it is apparently the chorus of the song — the screaming chorus, that is. I just don’t know how they can maintain such visceral screaming for an entire track, let alone an entire album. The instrumentation is pretty cool, very heavy on the bass guitar combined with the double-pedaled bass drum kit action that immediately sets the album in future fast forward. I guess I wasn’t all that curious as to what the song was about, although the imagery projected in just the one line I was able to make out isn’t exactly self-explanatory.

The second track “Decoy” is a little slower moving, though not much slower. There’s even a moment of cowbell. On this track, I was able to make out “take my life,” since it is repeated perpetually throughout the last part of the song until the track is over.

In “Synthetic Sin,” I was actually able to extract a whole thought from the lyrics: “Don’t be afraid of what your life might find.”

When it comes to music of any sort, I’m big on lyrics. I remember catching a segment of “Headbanger’s Ball” on MTV while I was having lunch at LoonAttic one day last summer, and the closed captioning function was on so I could actually get the benefit of the lyrics being screamed out. They were surprisingly philosophical and deep. A lot of the metal bands out there really do have some great lyrics, it’s just the matter of understanding them that is the hard part. I guess I prefer screaming in minimal doses, thus adding proper emphasis to a particular part of the song, giving it a dynamic it wouldn’t otherwise have. Perhaps that is the direction metal will eventually evolve to, perhaps not.

In the meantime, we are at the mercy of the liner notes, if a band is so gracious as to provide the lyrics there. In the case of Theory of Hate, you’ll just have to listen to the music a thousand times over until your brain magically picks out and deciphers whole lines from the tracks. Or you can go to the band’s Web site at myspace.com/theoryofhateak to see if they posted any there.

Josh Cole is a local musician and CD connoisseur. For a possible review of a new release, e-mail Cole at lettersfromthevoid@yahoo.com or at Myspace.com/familiarwalls.