Time To Murder It
There is no other band that can get you so pent up with primal rage quite like Hatebreed. Their music just makes you want to shout expletives and punch inanimate objects for no apparent reason. Well actually there is a reason; Jamey Jasta and the crew know how to write some really great aggressive, heavy, brutal tunes. Many would agree that Hatebreed struck absolute gold with the record The Rise Of Brutality in 2003, so if this is the marker set, then the new album, The Divinity of Purpose absolutely hits those heights. Each and every track is laden with powerful heavy riffs, drums delivered to mechanical precision and vocals unleashing a pure assault on your eardrums. Hatebreed have their formula, and they don't give two shits if you don't like it.
As soon as you hit the play button the onslaught begins as the lead single Put It To The Torch shows a fantastic interchange between some of the slower heavier riffs and the faster, punk fuelled, thrash sections. Matt Byrnes drumming in particular on this song is absolutely brilliant, helping ensure the band sound extremely tight. The next few tracks pretty much carry on the trend and emphasise why Hatebreed are easily one of the leading bands in their genre.
One of the band's greater selling points is their ability to deliver the pure aggression put out on record onto the live scene. You always get the impression live that Hatebreed feel that they are in their element, and as a result it does feel like some of their tracks feel like they are written with the view to play live. This is almost certainly the case anyway on this album, all of the heavy drops and 'beat-your-chest' chants are prevalent throughout, especially in tracks like Before The Fight Ends You and Time To Murder It which in particular will rip people's faces off live. Indivisable is also one of the truly stand out tracks. Screams of bringing people together across nations makes it feel like a politically themed track, but if you take a step back it feels like there is a far simpler message here, and it starts to feel more like a tribute song to their fans across the world and the fact they're all connected through their music.
Perhaps one negative is the apparent lack of progression from album to album. But as already noted, they've found their formula and have on many levels perfected it so why change it? It just wouldn't feel right if Jamey Jasta wasn't shouting in your ears. From the outset in 1993, this band formed to create hardcore music showcasing the raw basics to great effect. Some people may argue that it's the same old thing, but there's no denying the sheer quality across the board and just how important a band like Hatebreed have become.
That's enough of that rant, the bottom line is, The Divinity of Purpose is one of the band's absolute high points. It might not better The Rise of Brutality because frankly, even the band may tell you that will be pretty hard to do, but it certainly comes a comfortable second. It's just consistently good; each song, riff even, impresses and invokes a reaction and it will certainly be exciting to see some of these tracks live in the near future.