What does 2020 need? A punch in the face. Well, the experts to something like this have returned, just before the end of this cursed year to give it to it. Hatebreed is a painkiller band. You listen to them and you lash out, start to bang your head (not against the wall), scream the lyrics, blow off steam and forget what is happening around you.
So, do not expect anything different from the eighth full-length album of the Americans. Do you want to call them hardcore? Do you want to call them metalcore? It doesn’t matter. Their sound is instantly recognizable. A combination of sharp heavy riffs, non-stop groove that you do not find anywhere else, a few thrash outbursts as we are used to lately by them and of course Jamey Jasta behind the microphone spitting socio-political lyrics full of rage.
In “Weight Of The False Self”, Hatebreed do not change. We do not want that, after all. Their music is made to cause panic, neck pain and endless moshing when played live. This is what we ask for, this is what they offer us. An album that lasts thirty-five minutes and through twelve short songs full of intensity, makes you just ask for more when it is over.
I would like to refer to the amazing “Set It Right (Start With Yourself)” with the awesome thrashy riffs and the lyrics that tell us very correctly “if you’re going to change the world, you have to start with yourself”, to “Cling To Life” which has an unprecedented (for the band) but very interesting melody in the middle and of course to “Instinctive (Slaughterlust)” and “This I Earned”. The last two have such an addictive rhythm that they will surely have a permanent place in the band’s concerts, since the refrains with the gang vocals are ideal for such occasions.
With Hatebreed, not many words are needed. Their purpose in the music scene is what I said at the beginning, plus that their lyrics always deal with very special topics. As for me, since it came into my hands, I listen to it two or three times a day. And I can say that it helps a lot, since it offers better outlet than ten doses of coffee.
