Concert review: Hatebreed (Live at Toad's Place) 12-8-17

     
 Hometown Hardcore: Hatebreed (Dying Fetus, Code Orange) Live @ Toad's Place

[HATEBREED takes the stage at Toad's Place.]

     Hometown shows are, simply put, some of the most energetic and passion-filled concerts I have ever seen. If you’ve ever been in attendance at one of these rare events, you know exactly what I mean: for perhaps one night on a fifty-city tour, a band finds themselves playing in front of their home crowd – who show up in force. I’ve survived a few. However, there is nothing (and I mean nothing) anywhere, at all, EVER, that can match the intensity of a Hatebreed concert in New Haven, CT. What happens when you combine the most reckless, skull-stomping hardcore band in the world with one of the most timeless venues in America? Follow me through the tangled one-way streets of the Elm City….

     Toad’s Place has achieved an almost legendary status in many music circles. Aside from being a major outlet for local musicians since the mid 70’s, Toad’s has played host to an incredible number of famous acts through the years – in fact, far too many to list on this simple concert review. A simple walk around the dimly lit, dark interior of the small club reveals their proud history: concert posters with faces of Billy Idol, U2 and Snoop Dogg line the upstairs walls while the downstairs hallways hold the names of dozens more artists and bands who have chosen to grace this small New Haven stage over time. Yet for all this splendor, Toad’s is an extremely simple concert venue. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it is even a bit divey. The ceilings are low, the walkways are crammed, and there seems to be an overriding aura of grime and grease that pervades the whole scene – a testament to its years and years of stumbling patronage. The building itself is not built for live music – that is to say, there is no acoustics or architectural amplification at all. To account for this lack of natural sound resonance, Toad’s simply added more artificial noise: three massive towers of speakers stare menacingly at the crowd from the ceiling. The sound here is absolutely deafening. I have heard others complain about this dingy feeling (or losing hearing for three days post-concert), but it has never bothered me. Concerts are about sweat and mess, and Toad’s embodies that spirit exceptionally well. On no single night is it more powerful than when New Haven’s own Hatebreed take the stage.

     This tour was due to be an absolute slaughter form the start. Hatebreed was hitting the road to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of their debut album Satisfaction is the Death of Desire and the 15^th anniversary of their sophomore album Perseverance – both widely considered to be metalcore classics. To celebrate, they would play both albums in their entirety. Hatebreed would be joined by vulgar slam metal veterans Dying Fetus and the new kids on the hardcore block, Code Orange – both excellent choices for brutal, moshy support. Naturally my friends Luke and Zak were beyond excited to attend this show as a trio. We headed to the battleground on a cold December evening with anticipation in our hearts. Earlier that day, the show had sold out. It was going to be heavy, rowdy, and crowded – that’s for sure.

[CODE ORANGE smashes Toad's Place with their new hardcore groove.]

    

     Code Orange seem to be the heir apparent to the modern hardcore throne. Their music, like Hatebreed’s, fuses hardcore, punk and metal into a slamming sound that makes you want to rip floorboards out of the ground. 2017 has seen extensive touring for the band – supporting acts such as Gojira, Trivium, and Meshuggah has helped these five kids from Pittsburgh (and I say kids intentionally – they are all very young) and their heavy tunes garner a lot of attention. The title track from their latest album Forever was recently nominated for the 2017 Grammy for best metal performance. Luke, Zak and I were especially excited to see them play live because we missed them open the show for Gojira this past October – our Code Orange fix was more than two months overdue. At Toad’s, we witnessed an excellent performance. Code Orange’s music is sludgy and slower than most of what I personally listen to. Though they slice through 3 or 4 minute tracks like a hot jackhammer through butter, their songs never achieve any breakneck speeds. There are no screaming guitar solos or furious riffing – instead, the music is heavily driven by the calculated, slow-tempo

[Jami Morgan on vocals and drums.]

slams of drummer/vocalist Jami Morgan. This drum/vocal performance was a real highlight of the show for me and something I have seen very few times before. While Morgan sticks away song after song with intensity and dexterity, he delivers screamed vocals from behind the drum set as well. His attention to detail –demonstrated by this left-brain right-brain multitasking – is quite impressive. He takes time in between songs to shout out classic hardcore babble to the crowd: his cheers of “Get off of your fucking feet right fucking now!” “We are Code fucking Orange! Move this place!” are enough to start a riot in the small venue. The rest of the band chugs away with equal passion. Tracks such as “Bleeding in the Blur” bring guitarist Reba Meyers to the microphone to deliver some gristly clean vocals which do not detract from the intensity of the music at all. 
Interestingly, Code Orange’s stage equipment also includes a full synthesizer, played intermittently by the band's newest addition, guitarist Dominic Landolina. In between concrete-solid breakdowns, Landolina hops on the synth to deliver creepy, wobbly electronic vibratos that give the band an eerie transition from song to song. Orange-beareded bassist Joe Goldman looms over the crowd, screaming sans-microphone into the hundreds of fists in the air. He is quite a sight on stage – sporting black jeans and a simple white wife beater, he often crosses the entire stage in three or four gigantic steps, firing up both right and left sides. The pit absolutely loved it, and Luke and I had a lot of fun slamming and kicking around for a few songs. Though Code Orange’s image and music is hardcore to the core, they truly got a handful of metalheads on their feet. “My World” was absolute bloodshed. I am very glad I was finally able to see thing youthful, hungry band play live. I have a feeling that they will soon be a household name in the metal community. 

     

     Without listening to a second of their music, I bet you know exactly how Dying Fetus sounds – and no, your parents will not like it. The group (primarily a trio) formed in Maryland in the early 1990’s and has been on a tear of vulgar devastation ever since. Their brutal brand of death metal is characterized by up-tempo blast beats and complex technical arrangements. Sections of a Dying Fetus song can go from fast-paced guitar gallops to crushing, slow riffs in a matter of seconds – a testament to the musical craftsmanship of lone original member, John Gallagher. Gallagher is an extremely proficient guitarist whose fingers sweep up an entire fretboard with ease. Sections of songs like “Invert the Idols” and crowd-favorite “Shepherd’s Commandment” are great displays of this intense technical ability (which of course, looks effortless in the hands of Gallagher.) What is more impressive, however, is that he also performs vocals while playing. His unintelligible grunt (more of a guttural dog bark) has become synonymous with the band’s music. He is accompanied by equally proficient bassist Sean Beasley, who also frets away at an incredible pace. Beasley, who barely moves the entire show, seems to play on autopilot from under his mane of

[My (awesome) WWI themed Dying Fetus
long sleeve.]

long black hair. His vocal accompaniment covers high range screams. These two guitarists stand at opposite ends of the stage leaving drummer Trey Williams the middle of the scene. It is difficult to believe that only three musicians can make so much damn noise. In fact, what was most incredible about this (or any) Dying Fetus performance – aside from blisteringly fast guitar work and technical drumming – is that the band stands alone as a three-piece. Even limited to only one drummer, one bassist and one guitarist, Dying Fetus still manages to spew out some of the heaviest death metal in the modern scene. Their latest release, Wrong One to Fuck With, received widespread critical acclaim. The fans in the crowd that night loved it too. After desperately snagging the few pictures you see here, I had to join the swirling mosh. “Subjected to a Beating”, my personal favorite DF song was an absolute bruiser. The pit had lost some of its kung-fu hardcore charm and had quickly evolved into an all-out death metal shove fest. When put in the mix with Code Orange and Hatebreed, Dying Fetus seems to be the only metal act on a clearly hardcore-oriented bill. However, the trio was able to play well into the chanting arms of this bloodthirsty New Haven crowd. As circle pits whipped and fists and bodies flew, Dying Fetus ripped away through a long setlist and successfully introduced Toad’s to their signature slam metal sound in epic fashion.

     


By the time Dying Fetus had cleared the stage, the sold-out venue had truly begun its descent into claustrophobia. The small GA floor had grown significantly more crowded since Code Orange left the stage, and Toad’s begun to take the form of the perilous sweatbox I am more familiar with. A walk to the bathroom (once a simple task) was basically incomprehensible at this point – unless you fancied a half-hour struggle. Closer to the stage, the crowd packed tighter and tighter together and the anticipation of brutality was drawn as tight as a rubber band– soon, there was to be an insane release. 

[Toad's Place crowd photo courtesy of @hatebreed Instagram.]

     Once the lights cut to black, that notorious hole in the center of the crowd expanded and grew to enormous size – it would not disappear for the remainder of the night. From the first moment the five members swarmed the stage, the crowd went absolutely ballistic. It was nuts– I have to speak so frankly – the mosh pit literally erupted only seconds into their first song. Just as the room had begun to shake and pulse with the explosive riffs of “Empty Promises,” frontman Jamey Jasta stands center stage and is clearly visible for the first time. “Stop! Stop! Woah!” He commands. The music is suddenly cut off as quickly as it began. Apparently, he had noticed a fan lose their footing and fall to the ground in the sea of fists and fury. “Pick’m up! Get’m up! You good? Good? Okay!” He declares, smile on his face. The band laughs it off as well – another fan barely escapes a brutal fate at the Hatebreed concert. They regain form and quickly roll into their second tune, “Burn the Lies”, and the show continues as if nothing has happened. This was one of the most miraculous things I have ever seen at a concert. Of course, I have seen a front man stop a show to tell the crowd to help out their fellow fan who may have fallen or lost footing…but during the energy and intensity of the first song? Less than two minutes into the show, Hatebreed had stopped playing to help rescue a fan who surely would have been injured had they remained in a compromised position. That’s unheard of. One perspective says that Jamey is a cognizant and caring frontman. Another perspective says that the show at Toad’s was out of control. I think it was both.

     This hiccup did nothing to stop the epic machine that was already rolling at full-steam. Hatebreed continued seamlessly, opening with the first four tracks off of Satisfaction. As Jasta delivers his trademark hardcore drawl at breakneck pace, founding member and certified shredder Wayne Lozniak rips away at riff after riff on a gorgeous black Les Paul. Because most of Hatebreed’s music follows the same simple song structure, it is amazing that Wayne is able to mentally distinguish between the hundreds of Hatebreed songs – “Before Dishonor” has this breakdown and “Puritain” has that breakdown, and so on and so forth. Because the music itself does not show an immense amount of artistic variation, it takes a fair amount of skill to be able to memorize and perform 20 nearly identical songs without a single mistake. Periodically, he steps to the microphone to deliver some of Hatebreed’s classic gang vocals with sheer ferocity. Frank Novinec, the newest member of the band (if you consider a 16 year member new…) matches Wayne’s guitar intensity while also offering several subtle head-nods at the crowd. While the two guitarists remain silent and steadfast most of the show, bassist and founding member Chris Beattie is extremely energetic. He offers the head of his bass to the crowd several times, pulling his instrument away from the hundreds of screaming fans just in time to deliver another crunchy Hatebreed bassline.

[ From L to R: Chris Beattie, Jamey Jasta, and Wayne Lozniak.]

     About halfway through the show, Jamey and the band stop to address the crowd and thank them for selling out their hometown venue. He briefly speaks on the significance of this show – each band member is from the surrounding area and grew up attending shows at Toad’s Place themselves. Though Hatebreed played several shows at Toads while they were a local band, Jamey reminds the crowd that the roots of Hatebreed run much deeper - through the skateparks and neighborhood basement shows found all over "the 203". At the end of the day, they are just a handful of guys from Connecticut that know how to make some kick-ass hardcore music. Jamey also offered a heartfelt tribute to “Dimebag” Darrel Abbott of Pantera – one of the most celebrated guitarists in metal music history – who was tragically murdered while performing on stage 13 years ago this very night. The crowd roars – an absolutely deafening blast of sound, and Hatebreed rips into the crowd-pleaser “Last Breath” – dedicated to Dime. Crowd interactions such as this are extremely common at Hatebreed shows, which is something fans truly love. Jasta is excellent at firing up his audience. Every crowdsurfer (including myself during “Looking Down the Barrell of Today”) gets a high-five or a fist bump from Jasta himself, even if he must stretch out over the crowd for it.

     More than ninety minutes later, the crowd has not relented a single bit. Feet still fly through the air, circle pits expand and contract to encompass almost all of the standing room, and sweaty, satisfied fans scream along with every word. As the setlist grows and the night begins to wind down, Jamey pauses a final time to introduce all of the Hatebreed members on stage – also giving their Connecticut hometown, much to the pleasure of the fans who revel in knowing that these performers might have lived down the block from them. As a special treat, Hatebreed brings out ex-guitarist Sean Martin (who played guitars on Perseverance) for several songs. Martin hasn’t lost a beat. He joins his friends on stage and chugs through the final three classic Perseverance tracks with ease.

     

     Though hardcore music has never truly been my cup of tea, you have to give credit when credit is due – and Hatebreed deserves a lot of it. Their music, while simply structured and breakdown driven, is stompingly heavy and surprisingly catchy. Their jaunty, upbeat riffs will break the neck of even the most elitist death metal aficionado while crowd-favorite songs ignite adrenaline in diehard fans. Despite the misleading name (originally taken from a Misfits song), their 

[My (super cool) autographed copy
of Satisfaction.]

lyrics remain indomitably positive. Hatebreed seeks only to inspire personal power and determination in their fans. This ability to make the (sometimes slighted) hardcore music genre appealing to metalheads of all musical interests is mainly due to the charisma and relative celebrity of their beloved frontman, Jamey Jasta. Jasta, a New Haven native, is a metalhead to the core – which is probably why fans from so many different metal backgrounds are familiar with him and the Hatebreed music.  He has toured the world extensively with Hatebreed and his solo project, Jasta. He also hosts the popular metal podcast “The Jasta Show”, which has featured guests such as Ice T, Kirk Hammett, Jesse Leach, and Rob Halford. I met him at a live taping of this podcast this April and was able to speak to him candidly and I must admit that, for all of his celebrity, Jamey remains approachable and humble. I highly recommend "The Jasta Show" to anyone who is interested in the modern metal scene and quality, uncensored journalism.

     Hatebreed has long since left behind the days of being a local band. Currently, we would be talking about a band that headlines major festivals across the US and abroad – even having played in countries such as Indonesia, South Korea, and Russia. Despite this worldwide acclaim, Hatebreed still makes a choice to stop at Toad’s Place on their multi-city romp across the States. To me, this a very special statement. To this band, fans are far more important than big city ticket sales. They want to play their tunes where they know they will be loved. New Haven - their original meeting point and home base - offered an absolutely ideal location. I also have to compliment the tour managers and promoters on the choice of bands. This lineup was ridiculously heavy and even crossed genres while keeping every listener interested. I was very pleased to note that there were fans of all three bands in the crowd that night – and I am sure that the Code Orange and Dying Fetus merch tables did exceptionally well. However, no matter which band you came to see, this was decidedly a Hatebreed concert.