The Project Hate MCMXCIX – The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda
- December 24th, 2012
- By Lord Faust
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The culmination of two years of work, and a crowd-funding experiment, The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda marks the ninth studio album from metal masterminds The Project Hate MCMXCIX. As a long-standing proponent of the band — evidenced by my Devil’s Guide article on the subject — I look forward to each release, eagerly wanting to hear the next iteration in the continual evolution of their sound. I’ll admit to not having followed the progress updates on the album, and was swamped with work for the last 3-4 months. Then, to my surprise, in the early hours of December 12th, I got an early Christmas present in the form of this very album.
At this point in time, at 28 years of age, I have been listening to various forms of “extreme” music for nearly half of my life. While I was not initially a fan of metal whatsoever, the progressive expansion of my musical tastes eventually lead me to appreciate the merits of all manner of extremity. Surprisingly, it did not take long for my collection of music to expand from largely being an assortment of mainstream bands to a pretty damn eclectic mish-mash of styles and genres.
I looked this band up on a blind recommendation from a friend of mine, and listening to a couple of tracks played off an iPod. As a credit to the band, however, that’s all it took for me to be instantly hooked. Given my usual proclivities for music on the heavier side of things, I was immediately taken in by the simplicity of the songs and the catchy, clever lyrics; you don’t need downtuned guitars and 200bpm drums to make for a great song.
Since some time in 1999, when I got my hands on a copy of This Present Darkness, I’ve considered myself a fan of Chimaira. Over the course of 12 years, the band has put out a solid back catalog of albums. As with most long running bands, though, numerous line-up changes have resulted in a vastly different line-up that I for got acquainted with all of those years ago. That said, this has not really harmed the band; if anything, the material on The Age of Hell shows an even more matured and talented band. 
Back in the very late 1990′s and early 2000′s, when Slipknot were at the height of their popularity, and discussions of said group almost always elicited commentary about Mushroomhead, I found myself following both bands. The similarities between the two groups are superficial and, ultimately, irrelevant as they pertain to things that have nothing to do with the music. Both bands have released a number of albums I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, as well as some releases I would rather not think too hard about.
Ever since I really jumped into the deep pool of music that one would classify as “outside the mainstream”, I’ve been listening to Jamey Jasta — in one form or another. From the early days of Hatebreed‘s Death Before Dishonor, to keeping up with the band’s steady string of new releases — and various side-projects such as Icepick and Kingdom of Sorrow – Jamey Jasta has kept me busy for the better part of a decade. Now, many albums and guest appearances later, Jamey has built himself quite a resumé and drops his first solo effort on the public.