Hatebreed - The Divinity of Purpose
My level of interest in Hatebreed has been on a slow-but-steady decline since their classic debut in 1997, and I think it’s becoming clear as to why. It certainly isn’t the quality of the music. Simplistic streetwise Hardcore doesn’t get more top shelf than this, and the band that put the ‘Core in the early ’00s Metalcore explosion deserves every bit of success they’ve earned. Look no further than the raging 2-minute opener “Put It to the Torch” for an anthemic example of how it’s done. Admittedly, The Divinity of Purpose is nowhere near the intensity and ferocity of the old days, but who among us thirty-and-forty-somethings is still going as HAM as they were in 1997? I know I’m not. Speaking of aging, Jamey Jasta’s voice is just about shot. A couple decades of pure, torn-throat yelling has taken its toll, as this is easily the least serrated his scream has ever sounded on Hatebreed wax. Check out tracks 6-11 to hear hints from a guy who’d rather be singing pretty. But Jasta’s deteriorating vocals aren’t really the problem, either. Even as a shell of his former self, he still does a serviceable job given the bare-knuckle bombast of the chugging backdrop. I think the problem is I keep getting older, but Jasta’s part-pep talk/part-fortune cookie lyrics stay the same age. Dude, love ya bro, but I’m not a troubled 13-year old girl. I’m a middle-aged working class nobody. Enough with the “when the going gets tough…” self-help jargon. I eat, sleep, shit, jack off, and work… okay, not particularly in that order, but PSA slogans like “Sometimes standing for what you believe means standing alone / Own your world, it’s in your hands / Tearing me down won’t ever raise you any higher / End the fight before the fight ends you” isn’t doing anything for someone whose life is essentially over. At this point, Jasta’s endless stream of positive rhetoric just makes me want to strangle puppies. At any moment, I’m expecting the next lines spouted to be: “GIVE A HOOT, DON’T POLLUTE!! A PENNY SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED!! DON’T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY HATCH!!” Seriously, man. I still have love for Hatebreed, probably always will. But at the end of the day, I am another “dead man breathing” whether I want to be or not, and I’ll be reaching for lyricists more willing to accept that fact instead.
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