Metal Monarchy
HATEBREED PROVE THEIR LONGEVITY ON JAGERMEISTER TOUR
The Jagermeister Tour rolled through the Avalon in Hollywood on Sunday night, featuring a seemingly mismatched bill of Hatebreed, Type O Negative and 3 Inches of Blood.
The openers were rather drab and dull, but Hatebreed put on a show that
I won't soon forget. Here are my thoughts on the evening...
3 Inches of Blood must have cloned themselves, because I feel like I see them on at least 50% of the shows I attend these days. I am just not a fan. Their music has its charms, with some epic leads and killer riffs along the way, but their vocalist is absolutely abysmal on any level. He has always come off like a bad parody of Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford. The ridiculously high pitch of his singing is extremely obnoxious and just ruins any chance of the band ever meaning anything to me. Next!
Type O Negative are a band that I have to admit I knew absolutely nothing about going into the show with the exception of a vague knowledge of their classification as industrial-metal. I was largely unimpressed, nay, confused by what I saw. As fans of the band surely already know, their music fluctuates between slow, brooding, gothic doom metal and manic, fast-paced thrash metal, with a liberal sprinkling of industrial sound effects. For a long time, I had trouble discerning exactly what was going on up on stage. Type O Negative's constant use of dumb jokes did not help matters. Eventually I decided that the band has its merits, but that I wanted them to be over, and soon. But it dragged and it dragged. Oh, how it dragged. Just when I felt that my brain would freeze over, the band finally finished their set and made way for Hatebreed... as did their fans who left en masse.
Hatebreed has still got it. As a longtime fan of the band who has witnessed their rise from underground metalcore heroes to major-label stars, I can safely say that the quintet has not lost a step. Emerging on stage to the familiar sounds of the theme from "Rocky," the band cut an impressive figure. Frontman Jamey Jasta looked bad ass, sporting his new bandannaed look, while guitarist Sean Martin looked something more like rapper B. Real wearing a Gilligan hat. The newest member of the band - guitarist Frank "3 Gun" Novinec - was dressed from head-to-toe in Laker apparel (with a brand-new Laker tattoo to boot!) The Laker theme got quite a reaction from the Los Angeles faithful.
The band opened with "This is Now" from 2003's The Rise of Brutality. From there it was hit-after-hit. When they played the first three songs from 1997's Satisfaction is the Death of Desire - my personal favorite album of theirs - I about lost my mind. The great thing about Hatebreed is that they've never tried to be anything that they're not. While some bands that last as long as they have and get as big as they are try to experiment and "expand their artistic repertoires," Hatebreed have just stuck to what works. They stay true to their hearts and just play what their fans want to hear. If people want to hear the fast sh--, just play the f---ing fast sh--! A fantastic performance from a band who has been doing it for over a decade.
Here are the songs they played organized by album:
From 1997's Satisfaction is the Death of Desire: "Empty Promises," "Burn the Lies," "Before Dishonor," "Last Breath"
From 2002's Perseverance: "Proven," "Perseverance," "I Will Be Heard," "A Call for Blood," "Smash Your Enemies"
From 2003's The Rise of Brutality: "Live for This," "Doomsayer," "This is Now"
From 2006's Supremacy: "To the Threshold" "Never Let It Die," "As Diehard As They Come," "Destroy Everything"
3 Inches of Blood must have cloned themselves, because I feel like I see them on at least 50% of the shows I attend these days. I am just not a fan. Their music has its charms, with some epic leads and killer riffs along the way, but their vocalist is absolutely abysmal on any level. He has always come off like a bad parody of Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford. The ridiculously high pitch of his singing is extremely obnoxious and just ruins any chance of the band ever meaning anything to me. Next!
Type O Negative are a band that I have to admit I knew absolutely nothing about going into the show with the exception of a vague knowledge of their classification as industrial-metal. I was largely unimpressed, nay, confused by what I saw. As fans of the band surely already know, their music fluctuates between slow, brooding, gothic doom metal and manic, fast-paced thrash metal, with a liberal sprinkling of industrial sound effects. For a long time, I had trouble discerning exactly what was going on up on stage. Type O Negative's constant use of dumb jokes did not help matters. Eventually I decided that the band has its merits, but that I wanted them to be over, and soon. But it dragged and it dragged. Oh, how it dragged. Just when I felt that my brain would freeze over, the band finally finished their set and made way for Hatebreed... as did their fans who left en masse.
Hatebreed has still got it. As a longtime fan of the band who has witnessed their rise from underground metalcore heroes to major-label stars, I can safely say that the quintet has not lost a step. Emerging on stage to the familiar sounds of the theme from "Rocky," the band cut an impressive figure. Frontman Jamey Jasta looked bad ass, sporting his new bandannaed look, while guitarist Sean Martin looked something more like rapper B. Real wearing a Gilligan hat. The newest member of the band - guitarist Frank "3 Gun" Novinec - was dressed from head-to-toe in Laker apparel (with a brand-new Laker tattoo to boot!) The Laker theme got quite a reaction from the Los Angeles faithful.
The band opened with "This is Now" from 2003's The Rise of Brutality. From there it was hit-after-hit. When they played the first three songs from 1997's Satisfaction is the Death of Desire - my personal favorite album of theirs - I about lost my mind. The great thing about Hatebreed is that they've never tried to be anything that they're not. While some bands that last as long as they have and get as big as they are try to experiment and "expand their artistic repertoires," Hatebreed have just stuck to what works. They stay true to their hearts and just play what their fans want to hear. If people want to hear the fast sh--, just play the f---ing fast sh--! A fantastic performance from a band who has been doing it for over a decade.
Here are the songs they played organized by album:
From 1997's Satisfaction is the Death of Desire: "Empty Promises," "Burn the Lies," "Before Dishonor," "Last Breath"
From 2002's Perseverance: "Proven," "Perseverance," "I Will Be Heard," "A Call for Blood," "Smash Your Enemies"
From 2003's The Rise of Brutality: "Live for This," "Doomsayer," "This is Now"
From 2006's Supremacy: "To the Threshold" "Never Let It Die," "As Diehard As They Come," "Destroy Everything"
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