Hatebreed: You make this one tough on me. You see we’ve had a good relationship going on now for almost 10 years. You’re one of the first bands I started listening to when I got into metal (Joe Hardcore Hater: What?!? Dude hardcore SUCKS!), and your thick guitars and gruff vocals really opened my eyes to a whole new genre. I’ve purchased every album you’ve put out, save for Under the Knife because while it has some great songs, the production blows nuts. It’s been a good run, and while your albums have been never been bad, there have been some stylistic tweaks that have been a mixed bag in terms of reception by your fans. This new album is one that still conflicts me, but it’s moving in the positive direction.
The album starts off with a punk beat driven track called “Put it to the Torch”, and will give many a feel of their Rise of Brutality era work. It’s a quick hit to start the album, and features some f bombs that were a turnoff right away (more on that later). That leads to “Honor Never Dies”, which starts out with some gang shouts that have become the norm over years in the –core genres. They’re used a lot on this album (as they were on the last album), and almost feel like a crutch and a songwriting step back for a band the caliber of Hatebreed (Joe Hardcore Hater: Dude did they ever take a step FORWARD?).
“Own Your World” is a song that was clearly written for the live setting, with its question and answer bellows of “Who’s got more heart than you?? NO ONE!”, that is bound to become a fan favorite. The chorus is catchy as hell, with its main line being “Fist up! Head high! We are the fucking world tonight!” Now this is where I want to talk about the f bombs here. As I mentioned in my Continents review,cursing in no way offends me, it just comes across as a pathetic attempt to sound more angry, especially coming from a band the likes of Hatebreed. They’re one of the pioneers of the hardcore genre, and ask any non-metal fan of yours to listen to an album and the first thing they’ll ask you is “why do they sound so angry?” You’ve got that element down fellows, don’t take the weak songwriting way out (Joe Hardcore Hater: Did they ever have the songwriting part down?).
The next few tracks have a pretty similar feel overall, with “The Language” standing out due to a nice thrash feel and tasty solo about halfway through, and “Dead Man Breathing” slowing things down to a mid-tempo feel that helps to give a minor, and welcome, stylistic break to the album. The title track is one of the best songs on here, and one I’ve found myself humming more than once after listening to this album. “Bitter Truth” will remind fans of their last few albums, and features the trademark technique where the instruments go silent for a moment to emphasize the Jamey Jasta shouted vocal line. His voice gets a little monotonous on this album, but he’s still one of the best hardcore front men out there and even the haters have to argue his voice is no doubt unique (Joe Hardcore Hater: Yeah right… he’s a douchebag!).
Clocking in right at 37 minutes this one runs a little long, and could have probably had 2 or 3 songs removed which would have made for a stronger album overall. Some of the stereotypical hardcore elements seem a little too prevalent on this album, but then again it’s one of the more restrictive genres in the metal world so there’s not a lot of room to spread one’s wings. The production is solid, with none of the instrumental work standing out save for a few points, but that’s never been the point of a Hatebreed album. This seems like a transition album for these guys, as they’re at a point where they can continue to do the same thing (and do it better than most), or rattle the cage a bit and try to keep their sound fresh and alive for a whole new era of hardcore fans (Joe Hardcore Hater: Are there any of them left?). It will be interesting to see which route they go.
P.S. To Joe Hardcore Hater: This band has never written albums for you. You hate hardcore and always will, so please spare us the same old rhetoric in the comments section. Thank you.
[Visit the band's website]Find more articles with 2013, hatebreed, Kevin E, Razor & Tie, Review
Comments
Leave a Reply
Good album, but I miss the more metallic elements and occasional clean voice from the Self-Titled. This sounds kinda like a re-hash of Perseverance, which makes for fun listen but lacking in staying power. Time to progress and challenge the Hatebreed sound.
on Feb 1st, 2013 at 15:12Agreed. As I mentioned these guys are definitely at a crossroads.
on Feb 1st, 2013 at 15:55do not mean to be a douche here, but “They’re one of the pioneers of the hardcore genre” is one of the most wrong lines I’ve seen written on this site.
on Feb 1st, 2013 at 18:22Now you’ve admitted to only 10 years of metal listening, which is probably part of the reason you don’t have under the knife, came out 6 years before you even got into metal, and I don’t know what part of the country you hail from, but I’m a New England native, and remember when Hatebreed was a new rad band on the scene, even then they weren’t considered pioneers or inovaters of anything, just a band that had a little more metal edge to their guitar tone to really set off the fsu boston beatdown types of the time.
Not being a true connisuer of the genre, I guess i truley can’t comment on the subtleties of their sound, but modern hatebreed doesnt sound a whole lot different than satisfaction is the death of desire hatebreed.
This ain’t hardcore, son.
on Feb 5th, 2013 at 11:34