To me, Hatebreed mark the pinnacle, as well as the end of an era for Victory Records. Satisfaction is the Death of Desire was the epitome of mid-90's hardcore: mosh heavy, distrusting, and pissed. Since then, Hatebreed as well as Victory Records have not necessarily become less credible (Victory had none anyways), but definitely watered down and weaker than their 90's incarnations. Hatebreed had two lukewarm albums, and Victory has made a task of shitting all over their past legacy. Victory will continue to release some of the worst music ever, but Hatebreed have come back big time. This is the true sequel to Satisfaction is the Death of Desire, proving that Hatebreed reigns supreme once again.
Supremacy begins with the almost requisite ambient noise and background growls, and then bursts into "Defeatist," a track that seems to be straight out of Ringworm's book, then takes a bit of 100 Demons for the last mosh part. The fact of the matter is that this whole album takes the best of mosh metal/metalcore bands as an influence. Merauder's influence hangs over the opening riff to "Horrors of Self," then cuts into Integrity territory with the verse's riff. I'm done with namedropping, but suffice to say I was constantly reminded of other metalcore greats throughout the whole album.
But it's not the reminders of other bands that make Hatebreed great. Like Satisfaction, Supremacy carves Hatebreed into its own sound to set themselves apart. Jasta's bark is ferocious as ever, and the single "To the Threshold" is only a sneak peak at how heavy this record gets. Hatebreed have finally made the choice to get heavier. This record definitely keeps all sorts of mosh at maximum output at all times.
If I've got a complaint about this album is that it's way too long. I can only tolerate 30 minutes at maximum of this stuff per listening session. Supremacy clocks in somewhere around 35 minutes - not too far off the mark - but the tracks "Spitting Venom" and "Never Let it Die" seem to be unnecessary and better suited for an EP. There are worse cases of metalcore bands dragging on forever and ever, so I won't dwell on it too much. Another gripe is the lack of guest vocals. Jasta does guest vocals on a ton of records (Buried Alive, Terror, Napalm Death to name a few), so why not return the favor and show how loud your friends can be?
Don't let these very minor gripes prevent you from picking up Supremacy. Because, unless Integrity have been rehearsing in secret, this is the metalcore album of the year.
