Hatebreed: "the Concrete Confessional"

 Don't worry I'll review an actual hard core album after this, so you know what hard core is. These guys spent the bulk of their career as the opening act for Slayer and that could not be any more evident. I used to get them confused with Sick of it All, but Sick of it All is much more of a hard-core band than these guys. Jamey Jasta claims that the world is his trigger and he is here to fucking pull it. They have not shortage of gang vocals and breakdowns, though the verse riffs are what typically sounds the most Slayer. Today he wishes a mother fucker would try to see the world through his eyes. He sounds like a drill sergeant who trying to be a motivational speaker more than a metal singer.There is a nu-metal slant to "Seven Enemies". It reminds me that the first time I heard their first album I thought it was Sepultura. It's too bad the law around here is "cool riffs alone do not make a good song" because there is a good one that opens "In the Walls". It takes off into more of a punk thing with terrible lyrics.There is actual singing on the chorus of "From Grace We've Fallen". This is actually one of the album's better songs even with the very Slayer riffage.

"Us Against Us" feels like filler, but they redeem themselves with the more metal groove of "Something's Off". At this point Jasta's vocal are getting redundant. The over dubbed chant of...off, off, is a little silly. They fluctuate from nu-metal to punk and back on "Remember When". Many of these riffs sound like they are pulled from a heavy metal grab bag. The lyrics to "Slaughtered In Their Dreams" are like playing Slayer Mad Libs. Riff wise it's pretty mean, if not making them almost a Slayer tribute band. There are some punk...woahs that lead into "the Apex Within" which proves why we have the "cool riffs" rule here as it serves as a case in point here. There are some moments that remind me of M.O.D, in fact Jasta's performance reminds me of Billy Milano at a few points on this album. The lyrically depth hits the level of a paper plate on the thrashing "Walking the Knife".

They keep the thrash alive on " Dissonance". The trend of stupid lyrics also follows. They must hope their tough guys grooves will brush some of these past you and I imagine if you are a big fan of these guys you are not really into anything that thought provoking in the first place. They slow down into a thicker chug for the final song "Serve Your Masters". This is actually one of the album's better songs.They come close to singing at some junctures and do what they do best here. I'll give this album a 7. It's well done, the lyrics are more often than not stupid, which is easy for me to get hung up on, but this might be big dumb metal it just happens to be crafted by the pro's so if you are going to listen to something like this then you might as well listen to it by a band that has perfected it and clearly knows what they are doing, like it or not.