Hatriot - Dawn of the New Centurion
Less than a year after Steve “Zetro” Souza unleashed his return to Thrash Metal onto an unsuspecting world, Hatriot is back for a second strike. Much like Heroes of Origin, Dawn of the New Centurion is a solid piece of venomous Thrash that draws heavily on Zetro’s previous bands (Exodus, Legacy/Testament) for influence. Dawn of the New Centurion, though, is a much more diverse LP than its predecessor. Instead of being like a machinegun and hitting you fast and furious for 45 minutes straight, this goes from fast and brutal to darker and more atmospheric, incorporating some melodic guitar-work and slower tempos into the mix. The varied approach works pretty well for Hatriot, giving their songs more identity and breaking up things so you don’t get lost in a blur of blasting drums and chainsaw riffs. The slower, heavier tracks are the ones that stand out to me the most, offering memorable riffing and also some of the best guitar soloing on the LP. Lyrically, Dawn of the New Centurion is once again pointedly political. Some of Zetro’s political positions might be unpopular with a certain segment of the population (such as his pro-Second Amendment song “From My Cold Dead Hands”) but when you consider the band’s name (Hatriot is a play on the word “Patriot” after all), that he’d unload with both barrels shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The only problem with writing a political song is that after the situation changes, the song becomes somewhat irrelevant. There’s no point in calling for the release of Pussy Riot (the jailed Russian Punk Rock band referenced in the song “Superkillafragsadisticactsaresoatrocious”) after they’ve been freed, for example. There’s a timeliness about it that gets lost as the years go by. It’s as good an incentive as anything to keep the band producing new and more relevant material, though. While I’m still not a huge fan of Zetro’s vocal style, I have to admit that he’s stepped his game up since leaving Exodus. I never felt that he was a good fit for Exodus, mostly because he was never able to come out from under the shadow of Paul Baloff. With Hatriot, though, he’s the star of the show and he’s delivering the goods. If you like Thrash, this is the real deal. It’s not Exodus but it still kills posers dead.
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