PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Well here we are barely three weeks into 2013 and I’ve already got a stunner of an album to review. Storming out of Bridgeport, Connecticut come possibly metals hardest working band Hatebreed, with their latest offering The Divinity of Purpose. This will be the bands 6th studio album which front man Jamie Jasta has described as “all pit, no shit” and boy is he right!!
The album kicks off in fine style with lead single Put It To The Torch. This track was released late last year as a teaser for the new album and the public reaction was incredible. Jamie Jasta’s drill sergeant style vocals blast out like a verbal machine gun over the kind of fat grooves, memorable riffs and blasting drums that are so synonymous with the Hatebreed sound.
Songs like Own Your World and Before The Fight Ends You are sure to become live staples. (Although in fairness there aren’t many songs on this album that wouldn’t go down a storm live!!) They aren’t as “fast” as some tracks on this album, but they are in no way any less aggressive and will open up any club or arena floor with huge pits and come complete with anthemic sing along choruses to boot.
Indivisible sounds like an old school punk song with a modern tweek, kinda what you could imagine Black Flag would sound like today if they were still making records.
Title track The Divinity of Purpose sounds as if it could have been written by Rage Against The Machine (except without the rapped vocal!!) with it’s funky finger picked bass line and simple yet crushing riff it is a storming track.
Although the album is unquestionably a hardcore Hatebreed album, there are wee surprises like this peppered through the album that makes an easy album to leave on repeat play as you seem to pick up on wee bits here and there that you might have missed first time around.
Stand out track for me is closing track Time To Murder It, a crushing track with a brutal breakdown towards the end that (for me) is as good as if not better than anything the band have written to date.
The biggest problem with this album is the one faced by the band. – How the hell do they decide what to include in the set list and what gets left out??
If your not a fan of Hatebreed at the moment, this album isn’t going to do anything to change that. The “classic sound” of the band is boot stamped all over this album, and the band make no apologies for this either. They have written a Hatebreed album that sounds exactly like a Hatebreed album should sound. It has chunky riffs by the skip load, there is no shortage of groove laden bass lines and thunderous drumming and some of the choruses are as anthemic as they come.
When I hear people say “Metal is for morons.” or “Why do you listen to that? It’s all about death and stuff.” (aside from pitying them)I always point them in the direction of some of Jamie Jasta’s lyrics. He manages to write some of the most up lifting, feel good or thought provoking lyrics in metal without making it sound twee or corny and at the same time keeping the fast aggressive hardcore sound that the band is famous for.
The Divinity Of Purpose is one of the first major metal releases of the year and it kicks off the year in fine style scoring a mighty fine 9/10
Hatebreed release The Divinity of Purpose across Europe via Nuclear Blast on Monday January 28th before heading out across America with Shadows Fall, Dying Fetus and The Contortionist before returning to the U.K in March to headline the Hammerfest festival.
Track Listing:
1. Put It to The Torch
2. Honor Never Dies
3. Own Your World
4. The Language
5. Before The Fight Ends You.
6. Indivisible
7. Dead Man Breathing
8. The Divinity Of Purpose
9. Nothing Scars Me
10. Bitter Truth
11. Time To Murder It
HateBreed are:
Jamey Jasta – vocals
Chris Beattie – bass guitar
Wayne Lozinak – guitar
Matt Byrne – drums
Frank Novinec – guitar
