topofsm It is rather unusual that the subgenres of extreme metal confine to their respective genres so much. Most bands are death, thrash, black, etc. Sure, there's blackened death, blackened thrash, death/thrash but the elements of each genre are so distinct within each band that the elements of each genre sort of play alongside with but very distinctly from each other. Dragged into Sunlight takes that idea and throws it in the trash can.

Hatred for Mankind may be one of the darkest AND most unusual albums you have heard in a while. While they may be labeled here as death metal, this is by far an inaccurate label. Don't be mistaken, there's death metal all over this thing. But there's a ton of black and thrash and grind and a surging influence of noise and sludge mixed together, making a sort of amorphous, difficult-to-describe, extreme sludge sound.

This noise grows with the rest of the album to create one of the most evil-sounding records you may have heard. It's got some doom influence, but really it's sort of the darkest black metal elements turned up to eleven giving it an eerie vibe. Putting some sound clips in of screaming and swearing give off some haunting images, and the indecipherable grindcore vocals help too. Unless you are a masochist or absolutely love being terrified, I would not recommend listening to this album at night in the dark.

The biggest drawback, which still may benefit the album, is the production. One would suspect it's intentionally lo-fi, but everything's very buzzy and any hints of melody are very difficult to pick out, giving the album its prominent sludge sound. There are some times where the cymbals override all the other musical instruments, making some of the extended blasts a bit unenjoyable.

However, Dragged into Sunlight wins in several departments, most notably within originality and evilness. The sound on this album is impossible to pigeonhole, and the atmosphere is definitely haunting. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for something new in metal, most notably fans of death, thrash, black, sludge, and grindcore. At the very least, worth a listen.