Hatriot - Heroes of Origin
This album is a tough one for me to review. Steve “Zetro” Souza is a guy with a lot of Metal history. Not all of it is good. I’m one of those old Thrash fans that associates Zetro with the decline of Exodus. He may have been a nice guy (and certainly more stable than Paul Baloff, who epitomized all the insanity that was Exodus at the time), but he was the wrong person to front a band known for out of control violence and mayhem. Some of us also associate Zetro’s departure from Legacy as the turning point in that band’s history. For those not old enough to remember, Legacy recruited Chuck Billy, changed their name to Testament and became one of the more successful Bay Area Thrash bands. Now, I’m not a Zetro hater because I have a personal grudge against the guy. I don’t. Zetro tries his best, but his vocal style is a love-it-or-hate-it affair. If you hate his singing, you’re going to hate whatever band he’s in because his voice is front and center. There’s no escaping it. He sounds like a Thrash version of Brian Johnson (AC/DC), for those who’ve never heard him. His style is an acquired taste, to put it diplomatically. I’ve been trying to get into it for almost twenty years and I’m still not a fan. Like it or not, Zetro brings all that baggage with him to Hatriot. As a new band, the most experienced member here is Zetro. He has literally been in the Metal scene longer than most of the rest of his band have been alive. And get this: two of the members of the band are his kids (Cody and Nick Souza, the bassist and the drummer). Talk about a family affair. Musically, I found this LP to be a bit generic. This isn’t a sin because in this day and age, it’s tough to be original - especially in Thrash. The playing on Heroes of Origin is executed competently enough, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was listening to recycled Exodus riffs. This essentially sounds like Pleasures of the Flesh or Fabulous Disaster, in terms of style and substance, but with a more modern production. If you liked those albums, you’ll like Heroes of Origin. My personal favorite track was “Shadows of the Buried” because it had slower and heavier parts. The others were good, but this one stood out. The main reason for that was because it didn’t sound like something that Exodus would’ve done. Exodus was never big on being slow or heavy. They were all about fast and brutal. I think that the biggest hurdle Hatriot is going to have to overcome is the comparison to Exodus. It’s a big shadow to get out from under. Bonded by Blood is still the album to beat when it comes to brutal Bay Area Thrash. Anything associated with Exodus or Bay Area Thrash in general is going to be compared to it. Zetro’s vocal style still hasn’t won me over, but I’m willing to give the devil his due. He gave it 110% here. He’s positively venomous in his delivery. If anything, he’s even more pissed off now than he ever was when he was fronting Exodus. Now, if he can get the rest of his band up to speed, Hatriot will fucking kill. One side note before I end this review: the album art sucks. If you see this at your local record store, don’t let it be a deterrent to purchasing this album. The music on here deserved better. If you love Thrash, you’ll kick yourself in the ass for passing this up just because you thought the album cover looked stupid.
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