Hatebreed - Satisfaction is the Death of Desire Rating: 10/10 If you’re above the age of 15 and haven’t heard this record and claim to be a fan of heavy music, you’ve definitely been doing everything wrong but here, stream it on Youtube. The only place I love with all of my heart within the barren, desolate state of Connecticut is the city of New Haven. It’s also the place that I harbor the most resentment for: for every wonderful pizza place in Wooster Square and College Street Music Hall, there are annoying Yalies and the awful, eardrum-bursting institution that is Toad’s Place. Nothing outside of the Yale bubble gets any attention from the city’s government, the public school system is mediocre at best, public transportation has made me late for at least five classes this semester, and they really gotta do something about what’s been going on on the Green. Amongst all of these inconveniences and flaws, however, there remains something that no one can take away from us: Hatebreed.
If the mid-to-late ’90s hardcore scene was a kingdom, Victory Records was undoubtedly its king. From 1994 - 1999, the label put out some of the most important records in the canon of both hardcore and its rapidly-growing bastard child: metalcore. Earth Crisis’ Destroy the Machines, Bloodlet’s Entheogen, Integrity’s Systems Overload, etc. all pushed the boundaries of what hardcore was in the mid-’90s, adding metallic riffs to the foundation created by bands like Killing Time and Agnostic Front. They were, by and large, bands of hardcore kids translating their love of thrash metal through the successes of those earlier bands in the past. What separated Hatebreed from this crop was that, with their death metal influences from bands such as Obituary and Entombed, formed with the direct intent of creating a heavier and more visceral sound (oddly enough, referred to as deathcore at the time), really only matched at the time by New York’s Merauder. This record is just under a year older than me, but it’s clear from watching videos of old live sets from that era that Jasta and Co. were onto something special. The record itself is about as flawless as a hardcore record can be. Downtuned Entombed riffs, Jasta’s impassioned vocals, infectious two-step sections, and ridiculously heavy breakdowns that could very well be patient-zero for horseshoe crowds at hardcore shows all across the country: it’s all there, and done so well that it’s arguable if any band has been able to match the band’s sheer level of energy at the time since. Each track is a certified banger, from the explosive “Empty Promises,” the dance-inducing “Before Dishonor,” the death metal-inspired “Conceived Through an Act of Violence,” the NYHC groove of “Betrayed by Life,” and the irresponsible heaviness of “Driven by Suffering.” Fans continue to request these tracks to this day, despite the fact that Hatebreed continue to release solid material. For better or worse, it’s important recognize the impact this record had on the revitalization of heavy music (meaning anything that didn’t have members clad in Adidas tracksuits) in the public’s eye. With spots on the 1998 edition of the Vans Warped Tour and other tours with juggernauts like Slayer and Slipknot, the band gained enough attention to sign to a major label in Universal Records (through which they released the almost-as-good Perseverance) and landed Jamey Jasta his role as host of Headbangers’ Ball on MTV2, becoming a tastemaker for many young heavy music fans in the early 2000’s. Bands such as Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, and even smaller names such as the often forgotten Sworn Enemy are all bands that benefitted from this, and two bands currently at the forefront of hardcore, Code Orange and Knocked Loose, have shown their appreciation for the band numerous times, showing that the band’s legacy lives in on 20 years removed from their legendary debut. There’s a lot more that I could say on the importance of both this record and Hatebreed, but I’d just waste your time. Go listen to it for yourself.
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