MySpace a place for friends

Formed in 1996, the mercenary group of assassins known as Hatewave hailed from Chicago, where they quickly became known as one of the most insane, chaotic live acts in the world. The murderous, bass-guitarless trio played shows with Napalm Death, Boredoms, 6 Feet Under, Anal Cunt, Drop Dead, Charles Bronson, Cavity, Bongzilla, Fleshgrind, Ezurate, Melt-Banana, Incantation, 7000 Dying Rats, Cock ESP, and at the first Expo of the Extreme with Nile, Dark Funeral, Usurper, a.o. Their 1997 demo - a violent blast of grinding mayhem (churning with cacophonous low end from lead guitarist Angst's harmonized sub-bass signals) - garnished rave reviews in the underground death metal scene including zines like Nordic Visions and S.O.D.

the first of many controversies surrounding the band took place after a show at the empty bottle in chicago on June 28, 1997 the band was permenantly banned from the venue for projecting the incredibly gory, snuff-like japanese "guinea pig: flower of flesh and blood" video behind them while they played.

another memorable live appearance by the band took place at the first of two "Expo of the Extreme" fests in Chicago on November 1, 1997 - the band performed mid-day on a 30 foot balcony at the historic Congress Theater in Chicago, filling the stage with opaque smoke and relentless sonic violence before bringing out a female black-priest who proceed to chop the head off of a live chicken. The reaction was a mix of amazement, horror and outrage. the chicken was cooked and eaten by the band in a stew later that evening in a ritual of delicious blasphemy.

In April 1998, Hatewave recorded tracks with engineer Brian Griffin (Broken Hope) for their self-titled debut album. This recording showed obvious refinement, revealing a more technical approach than the demo and eschewing the low-end cacophony of the band's live sound. The vinyl version appeared in 1999 on Up Jumps the Devil Records. The LP was rejected for distribution by Southern Records UK as being "disgusting" and "misogynist" (disgusting might be right, but the misogynist claims were completely unfounded and unsupported - the album contained absolutely no references to violence or hatred specifically geared towards women. listen to the track "cock vs. cunt" and decide for yourself.) After offers from Sounds of Death and Listenable Records, the CD version (featuring some of the demo tracks) appeared on avant-metal label Tumult Records in 2000.

Too technical for the grindcore/crust crowd, too unironic for the indie/noise scene, too weird for the conservative death metal scene, too chaotic and destructive for most, Hatewave seemed to be highly misunderstood during its existence. After 25 live appearances, the group disbanded in winter 1999 after singer Sasha Tai left town to deal with personal problems...