On September 27, Hatebreed took the House of Blues in Boston by storm. This year, the band is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a commemorative tour, with their second pit stop falling near Fenway Park.
The band headlined with a special 20-song set and closed the show by bringing out original guitarist Sean Martin to play the songs “Proven” and “Perseverance.” Sean Martin's current project Umbra Vitae—which also features Jacob Bannon of Converge, Mike McKenzie and Greg Weeks of The Red Chord, and Jon Rice of Job For A Cowboy—opened the show, and was followed by bands Crypta, Harm's Way, and Carcass. The venue had wonderful sound and excellent stage display, as all bands sounded loud and clear while also having cool stage design.
Hatebreed kicked off their set with the 2006 track “To the Threshold,” from their 2006 album “Supremacy,” and the crowd received this very well. Throughout the night, the setlist was split up evenly to cover every era of Hatebreed. The band also played five songs from their albums “Perseverance” and “The Rise of Brutality,” which was the largest number of songs played from a single album during the show. It was really awesome to see Hatebreed favor their early work as opposed to the newer stuff. As a Hatebreed fan that has only been seeing them perform for just over a year, I don't always see them play older songs.
While the House of Blues floors are always obnoxiously sticky, the setting was wonderful. While moshing, you can easily find familiar faces from the Massachusetts hardcore and metal scene, but most enjoyably is Jon Lhabouet of bands Fleshwater, Living Weapon and Vein FM. He was moshing and throwing kicks left and right, all night—same as his brother, Mark, who is always a pit beast.
Hatebreen, who have grown to be Connecticut music legends, started their career with the 1996 release “Under the Knife.” This demo was distributed by Smorgasbord Records and very quickly put the band on the map. After releasing such a prevalent demo, the band released the most acclaimed debut hardcore record of all time: “Satisfaction is the Death of Desire.” This album emulated everything about hardcore music at the time and is continuing to inspire hardcore bands every day.
“Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire” starts off with a true Connecticut anthem, “Empty Promises.” This song ends with a vicious breakdown that stems from the lyrics, “How can you save me / When you can’t save yourself?”, which gives the audience an idea of the album’s. No song on “Satisfaction is the Death of Desire” is longer than 2 minutes, and each song features a gut-punching breakdown that has opened up some of the most legendary pits in Northeast hardcore show history. You get through all 14 songs on the album in just over 25 minutes. Every song has a fast and unrelenting tempo, so there is rarely a melody break.
My personal favorite track off the album is “Before Dishonor,” as it truly is one of my favorite songs ever written. My close second would have to be “Under the Knife,” as the snare tone is outrageous.
Hatebreed has been at the top of the hardcore food chain for officially 30 years now, and with that they are on tour to celebrate. Being lucky enough to see Hatebreed play two 30-year sets this year is something I'm very grateful for. In March, I saw them headline at the Oakdale Arena in Wallingford, Connecticut for a stacked bill of bands that included Shadows Fall, 100 Demons, Sworn Enemy, and many more. Since it was the band’s hometown show, the set was much more special for longtime fans and had more of my personal favorite songs. Both performances ruled, and I can't wait to see what Hatebreed announces next for music.
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