Do not let Hateful Abandon's facade fool you: this is by no means a black metal band; this isn't even metal per se. Hateful Abandon play an ultra-melancholic, reflective and highly addictive sort of doom-rock, loaded with post-rock innuendos, post-punk and gothic aesthetics and yes, they even flirt with metal. Alternating between velvety, Nick Cave-like vocals (or Moonspell's frontman for that matter) and a harsher tone distinctive to black metal, the gritty, almost monochromatic guitars and rhythm section play intoxicating, circular tunes; so easy to relate to, so easy to enjoy, dwell and drown within. Nothing challenging in this recording, nothing should be. The challenge of delivering one of the most original and unique dark musical creations of recent times -- that being mission impossible in itself -- has been fully accomplished with _Famine_, no doubt.

_Famine_ touches a bit The Sisters of Mercy, it takes a bite from Bauhaus and Joy Division, but also reminds you of its intimate familiarity with Tristitia and Lifelover. _Famine_ is extremely nostalgic for those who could reminisce what it was like in those dark, smoke filled, disco-dungeons of the Eighties, where punk, electronica and gothica were kings and queens of the dance floor, and black was the only color one could think of wearing.

Simply delivered, emotionally charged and decadently mysterious, these 27 minutes will be over so fast it will make your head spin, and pardon me for the cliché.

P.S. Did I hear some King Crimson (_Epitaph_ era) being musically mentioned on the fourth track? May be, may be...