Our top ten Hatebreed songs looks at one of the most successful hardcore bands who hail from Connecticut who were formed in 1994. They released their debut album Satisfaction is the Death of Desire in 1997. After touring with several metal bands such as Slayer and Napalm Death, they crossed over into the metal scene and gained a lot of fans in that scene. Their next two album’s Perseverance in 2002 and The Rise of Brutality in 2003 both combined many elements of metal.
After the release of these albums, Hatebreed quickly became one of he biggest names in the modern metal scene when they took part in things such as the Ozzfest, Slayer’s Unholy Alliance Tour and overseas festivals such as the UK’s Download festival. Their next album Supremacy was released in 2006. Over the next few years they continued to become even more prominent in the metal scene, particularly when frontman Jamey Jasta became the new host of the revamped version of MTV’s “Headbangers Ball.” 2009 saw the release of two new records: one was their fifth original album which was self-titled and the other was a covers album titled For The Lions.
Hatebreed would continue to be a prominent act on the summer touring circuit where over the next few years they took part in touring festivals such as Mayhem and the Warped Tour. Over the past few years they have continued to record and tour, having produced three more albums and embarked on much extensive touring to support them.
Hatebreed are a band who are known for their very aggressive style and also their motivational and empowering lyrics. They have been very successful for a hardcore band which has led to some members of the scene labelling them as sell-outs. Nevertheless they are extremely popular and their live shows are known to be very intense experiences. So let us have a look at their ten best songs.
# 10 – Live For This
Kicking of our Hatebreed songs list is this track that was taken from 2003’s The Rise of Brutality. This is a song where Jamey Jasta vents his frustrations with being part of the music industry. Despite this, like most Hatebreed songs there is a message of hope amongst the anger. He wrote this song while the band was on tour and he felt like giving up. This track was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005.
# 9 – Weight of the False Self
Next up is the title track of the band’s eighth album released in 2020. The lyrics here are even more inspirational in nature as Jasta sings lines such as ”If you wanna make a difference in the world it means you have to be different than the world you see”. Despite some criticism that the band had produced an album that was very similar to their past work, the album was generally well received.
# 8 – Looking Down The Barrel of Today
Our next track is from Hatebreed’s seventh album The Concrete Confessional released in 2016. Two months before its release, the band uploaded a teaser trailer for it on their Youtube channel. A lot of the album’s lyrics dealt with political and social subjects as well as the usual Hatebreed lyrical material about how to rise above obstacles and become a better person as a result of it. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and got to number twenty-five on the Billboard 200.
# 7 – Honour Never Dies
This next entry is from the band’s sixth album The Divinity of Purpose released in 2013. Hatebreed produced it themselves along with producer Zeus and Josh Wilbur. The album was a high point in the band’s career when it reached number twenty on the Billboard 200. It received a generally favourable critical reception.
# 6 – In Ashes They Shall Reap
The next track on our list is from Hatebreed’s fifth self-titled album released in 2009. The album was one of two releases from the band in 2009, the other being their covers album For The Lions. Before the album’s release they premiered this track on their Myspace page and a video was later made for it. The album got to thirty-seven on the Billboard 200.
# 5 – Thirsty and Miserable
Speaking off which, here is one of Hatebreed’s covers from For The Lions which was originally by Black Flag. The album was originally going to be released in 2008 but they wanted to record a few more tracks which meant waiting until 2009. Other bands covered on the album include Metallica, Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies and Sick Of It All.
# 4 – To The Threshold
This song is taken from Hatebreed’s fourth album Supremacy released in 2006. It is their only album to be released on Roadrunner Records. This track appeared on the compilation album Headbangers Ball: The Revenge and also had a rather hard hitting music video which dealt with the issue of domestic violence.
# 3 – This Is Now
At number three we have another single taken from The Rise of Brutality. The video for this track received heavy rotation on Headbangers Ball when Jamey Jasta was the host. This track is a classic example of Hatebreed writing very emotional lyrics where Jasta talks about how he has felt down on life in the past but has risen above it and decided to carry on.
# 2 – I Will Be Heard
Just off the top spot is this track taken from Hatebreed’s second album Perseverance released in 2002. A lot of people may know this song from the film xXx starring Vin Diesel of which is was the lead single to the movie’s soundtrack. It got to number fifty on the Billboard 200 and twenty-two on the UK Rock and Metal Albums chart.
# 1 – Before Dishonour
Topping off our Hatebreed songs list is this song taken from their debut album Satisfaction Is The Death of Desire released in 1997. This album has a different sound to all of the band’s later albums, being much more rooted in traditional hardcore and bearing a strong resemblance to the likes of Biohazard, Madball, Sick Of It All and Agnostic Front. It has been described as a hardcore classic. Prior to the release of this album, Hatebreed were an underground act who had not yet written a full length album. The release of this record lifted them into the mainstream and got them a deal with Universal Records. This album itself was released by Victory Records which is a much celebrated label due to its release of several seminal hardcore, metal and emo bands.
Feature Photo: Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 FR <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/fr/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons
Top 10 Hatebreed Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2021
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