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Hatebreed

Hatebreed

Written by: PP on 07/01/2010 01:32:38

Say what you want about Headbangers Ball host Jamey Jasta and his Hatebreed outfit, but even the most fanatical hardcore hater can't deny that "The Rise Of Brutality" isn't one of the best albums this decade. Previous album "Perseverance" was killer as well, but it wasn't until the latter that the band flourished and expanded it's fanbase to millions of people around the world. The following album is where most bands would fail, but 2006's "Supremacy" turned out incredibly well and is claimed to be the second best Hatebreed album by most of the band's fanbase. Three years later, the band is ready with their fifth studio album "Hatebreed", only a few months after releasing a mediocre covers album that wasn't interesting enough for me to review it here, and unfortunately, it seems that "Hatebreed" is possibly the first bad Hatebreed album to date.

If "Supremacy" had modern influences from genres like metalcore and modern metal, then "Hatebreed" is a step backwards to the band's earlier, more brutal and, to its detriment, straightforward stuff. The band have indeed succeeded in the past using this approach, but "Hatebreed" doesn't, precisely because it lacks the memorable hooks and back-chilling screams. It's as if Jasta spent the last three years listening to all those generic moshcore / tough guy hardcore bands that dominate the bookings under the new Fredericia Hardcore Festival management, and decided to fuck interesting song structures, instead focusing on writing purely fist-pumping songs that lack the anthemic feel of "Supremacy" and the raw fury of "The Rise Of Brutality". Simply put, the songs just aren't interesting, aside from a few highlights ("Become The Fuse", and the Slayer-inspired "Hands Of A Dying Man"), instead calling forth words like "monotonous" and "uninspiring". Is Jasta getting old? It's entirely possible, because despite the full-on yelling and the thrash metal solos spicing up the songs here and there, him and the band in general just don't sound as convincing as they did before.

So as I've plowed through the record more times than I probably should, I'm still lacking any distinctly memorable moments that were a given on almost every track of "Supremacy". There's no doubt that "Hatebreed" is guaranteed to incite violence at venues around the world, but does it have anything more than just moshable, fist-pumpable, destroyable feeling to offer? I'm afraid not.

Download: Become The Fuse, No Halos For The Heartless, Hands Of A Dying Man
For the fans of: Slayer, Terror, Kingdom of Sorrow, Lionheart
Listen: Myspace

Release date 29.09.2009
E1 Music