Musical Ramblings: Hatebreed gets personal
Hatebreed — “Supremacy”
I have to be honest right off the bat and say that any time I heard or saw this band, I've watched/listened because they have a huge fan base and tried to figure out why. I never got into these guys and with their newest release being sent to me, I thought that I would start with a clean palate, pop it the CD player in my car and listen to it on my 40 minute drive to work. I have to say that my opinion really hasn't changed.
The problem I find with this band and bands of the same hardcore genre is that they all pretty much sound the same and that their CDs/”albums” as a whole are practically the same song for the duration. Yes, I know this is coming from the same person who listens to an abundance of metal and death metal that most people would say the same comment about, but because I think I have a pretty keen ear for the hard rock/(enter genre here) metal, that it's even more confusing to me how these guys are still on a label with many fans while others, who make way better music, are swept under the rug (yeah, Roadrunner Records-the label that Hatebreed are on-I'm looking at you).
“Supremacy” starts and ends with the same thing. The vocals throughout are the exact same thing. There is no diversity whatsoever on this disc. The only song that I found that I was bobbing my head to and found decent was the song “Divine Judgment.”
The guitar work is nothing that hasn't been done before and the same goes with the arrangements and the drumming. The drumming is particularly disappointing because there are some parts of the song where you think (or at least are hoping) that are going to speed up and give the song that metal or potentially thrash feel because the lead in riff is pretty good, but you end up with more half time drumming that keeps the song at a slow grinding pace.
The lyrics on most of the album are about vocalist Jamie Jasta's problems with depression, alcoholism, drugs and more, and how he got strong again with a new outlook on life. He makes it clear in the liner notes that proceeds all the lyrics that he's not out to preach but to make a public statement about his life that hopefully people in his situation can find the strength he did to pull themselves out of the rut. While the liner notes are inspirational, I still couldn't be excited for the songs or the messages within.
If you like the hardcore metal genre, go ahead and sample this disc because you may like it a hell of a lot more than I did. For this metalhead, I have to give this one a four out of ten and a trip to the used CD store for a Children of Bodom CD I saw there the other day (I hope it's still there).
I have to be honest right off the bat and say that any time I heard or saw this band, I've watched/listened because they have a huge fan base and tried to figure out why. I never got into these guys and with their newest release being sent to me, I thought that I would start with a clean palate, pop it the CD player in my car and listen to it on my 40 minute drive to work. I have to say that my opinion really hasn't changed.
The problem I find with this band and bands of the same hardcore genre is that they all pretty much sound the same and that their CDs/”albums” as a whole are practically the same song for the duration. Yes, I know this is coming from the same person who listens to an abundance of metal and death metal that most people would say the same comment about, but because I think I have a pretty keen ear for the hard rock/(enter genre here) metal, that it's even more confusing to me how these guys are still on a label with many fans while others, who make way better music, are swept under the rug (yeah, Roadrunner Records-the label that Hatebreed are on-I'm looking at you).
“Supremacy” starts and ends with the same thing. The vocals throughout are the exact same thing. There is no diversity whatsoever on this disc. The only song that I found that I was bobbing my head to and found decent was the song “Divine Judgment.”
The guitar work is nothing that hasn't been done before and the same goes with the arrangements and the drumming. The drumming is particularly disappointing because there are some parts of the song where you think (or at least are hoping) that are going to speed up and give the song that metal or potentially thrash feel because the lead in riff is pretty good, but you end up with more half time drumming that keeps the song at a slow grinding pace.
The lyrics on most of the album are about vocalist Jamie Jasta's problems with depression, alcoholism, drugs and more, and how he got strong again with a new outlook on life. He makes it clear in the liner notes that proceeds all the lyrics that he's not out to preach but to make a public statement about his life that hopefully people in his situation can find the strength he did to pull themselves out of the rut. While the liner notes are inspirational, I still couldn't be excited for the songs or the messages within.
If you like the hardcore metal genre, go ahead and sample this disc because you may like it a hell of a lot more than I did. For this metalhead, I have to give this one a four out of ten and a trip to the used CD store for a Children of Bodom CD I saw there the other day (I hope it's still there).
