Hatebreed
For The Lions

September 2009
Released: 2009, http://www.entertainmentonegroup.com
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Waspman

For The Lions represents my first time around the ride with hardcore superstars Hatebreed. This band is in turns loved and reviled by the metal crowd, although their hardcore fan base is certainly large enough. Since I’m I don’t really enjoy hardcore, I confess that I have never heard a single note of Hatebreed music up to now, so I don’t really give a rat’s ass what bands influenced Hatebreed early on. I realize that’s not the best attitude with which to approach reviewing an album, but there it is.



The first thing I noticed about FOR THE LIONS was how varied the song choices are – ranging from your typical hardcore influences (Bad Brains, Cro-Mags) to punk (Misfits), all the way to death metal (Obituary), there is a quite a breadth of material here. Kudos also goes to the fact that the band chose some of the less “known” songs to cover: Slayer’s “Ghosts of War” and Metallica’s “Escape” for instance. It’s refreshing to see a band cover Slayer and not do “Angel of Death” or “Raining Blood”.



Equally refreshing is the fact that Hatebreed proves themselves up to the task musically, effortlessly switching from style to style and pulling it off with ease. Despite being stretched across so many different styles, each song is put through the hardcore ringer – which is also the downfall of the album. After awhile, every single song starts to sound the same. I get that they’re “Hatebreedifying” these songs, but by the end it all sounds like it’s being spit out by a machine. Jamey Jasta’s vocals are no help either, being the standard hardcore barking that you either love or hate.



All in all FOR THE LIONS will doubtlessly please the band’s fan base, but unless you have a burning need to hear Hatebreed’s version of “Refuse/Resist”, I can’t really recommend this.