{"id":724612,"date":"2026-08-02T15:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T15:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/724612\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T15:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T15:52:08","slug":"review-eaten-by-sharks-the-undertow-of-hate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/724612\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Eaten By Sharks – The Undertow of Hate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Published by Vince<\/a> on 2026\/08\/022026\/08\/02<\/p>\n

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Artwork by: Paolo Girardi<\/a><\/p>\n

Style: Deathcore, Technical Death Metal (Harsh Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Fit for an Autopsy, Job for a Cowboy, Cattle Decapitation
Country: Canada
Release date: 17 July 2026<\/p>\n

By the time this review goes live, Shark Week will have ended. But that doesn\u2019t mean we need to stop celebrating our Paleozoic pals anytime soon. Like the wolf or alligator, sharks have received a largely negative skew in our media, with films like Jaws and Two-Headed Shark Attack propagating the idea that these fascinating creatures are nothing more than unprovoked killers of Humanity. And while the Selachii Division does hold space for apex predators like the great white, mako, and hammerhead sharks, these are but a drop in the taxological bucket when it comes to the diversity\u2014and general docility\u2014of these majestic sea dogs.1<\/a> Plus, if you think about it, mankind is like one big home invader; we wade into environs like the sea dragging all our hubris and uncouth arrogance in our wake, then want to act surprised when a creature who\u2019s lived there forever gets mad that we\u2019re thrashing around in their space and takes a nibble out of us. Not saying people deserve to get chomped on2<\/a>, but I think we could all stand to be a little more understanding and sympathetic to the creatures we share this Earth with.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if Canadian five-piece Eaten By Sharks is wielding their power to spread Spielbergian fear or use the fearsomeness of sharks\u2019 reputation as a means of penning lyrical retribution against a deserving mankind. Either way, they have chosen to wield the killing power of sharks in service of a direct and brutal whirlpool of technical death metal and deathcore. Not that land-lubbin\u2019 symphonic shit either\u2014this is all gills, no frills savagery built on frothing tremolo riffs, deep-sea chuggery, and blasting kitwork that could shake apart even the toughest shark cage. The Undertow of Hate is the fishy fanatics\u2019 second LP, following 2022\u2019s Eradication, and one can only wonder: do these relative newcomers have what it takes to swim in these crowded tech death seas? Or are they destined to become chum for a true apex predator?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Eaten By Sharks take to the waters in search of blood; no wasteful intro here, as \u201cVessels Torn\u201d deploys an ear-catching slice of guitar that descends from adventurous to barbarous with all the creeping danger of a submersible entering the dark unknowns. From there on, the waters churn red with vicious mid-tempo death metal, content to bite down with thrashing riffs and toothy arpeggiated runs that, alongside drummer Justin Whitehead\u2019s lockstep kitwork, create anchoring pockets of groove that are guaranteed to get all us vertebrates\u2019 necks snapping. Matt Sherriff\u2019s gnashing screams and barnacle-encrusted lows are delightfully legible across the album, making The Undertow of Hate a delight to scream along with. And, rather than favor the machine-gun vocals of fellow countrymen in Archspire or the compositionally-fragmented attacks of many a deathcore band, Sheriff allows himself to settle into the instrumental grooves created by his bandmates, operating like a synchronized shoal of fish, rather than a pack of lone hunters forced to cooperate. This combination of legibility and melody supplies The Undertow of Hate with a sizable tackle box of fishhook verses and choruses that, after a few listens, sank their barbs into my mind (\u201cCapsized\u201d, \u201cTreading Water\u201d, \u201cCrimson Tide\u201d).<\/p>\n

Despite the band name and album title, Eaten By Sharks never feel driven wholly by a gimmick, nor is there a creeping sense of meme-ness to the music that can bleed out the enjoyment of repeated exposure (unlike, say, Dethklok). The Undertow of Hate never feels like a joke, to be enjoyed by a smirking caste of irony-poisoned listeners who are only here for the lolz of it all and who otherwise find all this death metal the stuff of bottom-feeders. That\u2019s not to say Eaten By Sharks have constructed some high-brow masterpiece along the lines of a Liminal Rites (Kardashev) or Woe (An Abstract Illusion); this is an album with track titles like \u201cBecoming Chum\u201d, after all. But never does the band feel like they\u2019ve gone \u201cwe don\u2019t need to really try too hard because all this is very dumb and silly.\u201d Like the mollusk-themed oeuvre of fellow death metallers Slugdge, The Undertow of Hate lurks nicely in that space where one can recognize the inherent absurdity of such extreme music while also enjoying it in a serious context separate from the need to be in on a joke.<\/p>\n

That said, Eaten By Sharks are not reinventing any wheels here. Nothing across The Undertow of Hate\u2019s sleek thirty-four minute runtime will shock or surprise genre aficionados or even casual listeners. However, much in the way sharks have maintained their current iterations for the last hundred-million years or so, sometimes what works is enough. Eaten By Sharks showcase that by focusing on solid compositional work, tight instrumentation, and vocals that\u2019ll have everyone joining in on the frenzy. So, while The Undertow of Hate doesn\u2019t necessarily challenge the biggest bois in the ocean, Eaten By Sharks can hold their dorsal fins high knowing they\u2019ve produced something just as good: a reliable and fun record that should have no trouble finding its way upstream into listeners\u2019 playlists.<\/p>\n

Recommended tracks: In Tidal Chaos, Capsized, Crimson Tide
You may also like: Spire of Lazarus, Cognitive<\/a>, Devil\u2019s Reef<\/a>
Final verdict: 7\/10<\/p>\n

Related links: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

Label: CDN Records<\/a><\/p>\n

Eaten By Sharks is:
\u2013 Tyler Abrams (bass)
\u2013 Justin Whitehead (drums)
\u2013 Chris Chaperon (lead guitars)
\u2013 Dan Oko (rhythm guitars)
\u2013 Matt Sherriff (vocals)<\/p>\n

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