I have been thinking of writing a positive article for a while now (shock horror) and as I am sitting on 'Unto The Locust' until I have lived with it for just a little more, it seemed the apt time to sing the praises of something else, but then I read the last issue of Metal Hammer and BANG! it gave me the perfect excuse to write my positive article with an angry slant.
As I was recently told that a blog is for ranting on the internet then I figured why fight the bile?
What got my goat was Joel McIver's interview in last months Metal Hammer (UK) with Hatebreed/Kingdom Of Sorrow frontman Jamie Jasta, but I'll get to that in due course.
At the tail end of the nineties I spent a fair bit of time with a guy who was into his hardcore music.
An awful lot.
Now don't get me wrong the hardcore scene has thrown up some great bands, but somehow it's never quite been for me; maybe it's because I am not that relentlessly angry - I don't go to the gym and work out until my neck is thicker than my head, I don't have enough tattoos or wifebeater vests and would fair prefer smoking a relaxing rock and roll cigarette and watching a band with a beer than axe kicking someone in the face in the pit or maybe it's simply that I just prefer metal music.
Still at some point in our friendship my shouty music loving friend handed me a copy of Hatebreed's Victory Records debut 'Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire' (great title by the way). Now this solid album and kick started a career that is still going strong some 6 albums later and has survived a swap to the home of North American Metal trends, Roadrunner.
I quite liked it then and still spin it now.
It's about forty-five minutes of 3 minute anthems about being angry, yet with a message of positive empowerment running through. Again maybe this is another reason I can only have a passing interest as I like to, ahem 'cherish the darkness within' (thank you Machine Head) and sometimes I don't want to put on music and have self help therapy.
Still it sums up Hatebreed to me even now.
They have the same fairly one note path which they admittedly tread very well, but when they split up then I'll buy The Best Of... so I can get the stand out tracks like 'I Will Be Heard', 'Live Through This' and 'Before Dishonour' without having to sit through that albums batch of sound-a-likes.
As for Jasta himself well the narrow confines of his musical day job means that he is to me just the potato headed guy who shouts a lot. He has also been a VJ on MTV's Headbangers Ball, runs his own label (Stillborn records) and has his own clothing range (couldn't be bothered to look up the name).
To be fair he was one of thse people I universally thought nothing of until he teamed up with Kirk Windstein of Crowbar for the excellent Kingdom Of Sorrow debut.
That album really made me sit up and take notice - this was an excellent collaboration full of light and shade, Jasta's hardcore roar trading off against Kirk's more melodic whiskey soaked rasp.
On reading the liner notes I realised that this is actually more Jasta's baby than it is Windstein's and he actually contributes more to the writing and the melodies than my slanted view of him would recognise and this was something that increased on the second album, which is in my opinion the stronger of the two.
So this year I read that Jasta was releasing a solo album, now given my interest in the last Hatebreed album lasted approximately one and a half spins I thought I'd download it and see what the fuss was about.
In truth it is both surprising and great.
It sounds like neither KOS or Hatebreed - Jasta displays a deft song writing skill, a decent melodic voice and it isn't hindered by having two of my favourite contemporary metal vocalists - Rhandy Blythe of Lamb Of God and Phil LaBonte of All That Remains, - guesting as well as Wack Myldde (You know former Ozzy guitarist, Shuaron worshipping, Egg throwing, fake biker mong), Mark Morton (vocalist punching drummer for Lamb Of God) and Phil Vallely – Skateboarder, solo artist, and one time singer of Black Flag.
I liked it so much I ordered it after a week of listening to it non-stop, sent back the first one that arrived because the postman had mangled it and got another, I was that determined to have it as a nice looking piece of shelf furniture and I have to say it's one of the releases this year I have been most satisfied by thus far.
It got good reviews, fuck knows how much it will sell being on Century Media and the fact that people's opinion of it will very much be coloured by their views on Jasta's day job.
And here's the rub.
McIver's interview with him, to me, seemed obsessed by the concept that this was a solo album, why was it a solo?
Well as the man behind it clearly explains; the music on the disc doesn't sit well with either his day job or his side project. It would seem that for someone who I didn't have pegged as a song writer particularly Jasta produces tons of music - at home, on tour - he lives and breathes the life he has chossen and 'Jasta' the album is made up of songs that were on his hard drive begging for release but would never find the light of day in his two most famous incarnations.
He joked that by releasing it as a solo album he would lose less money in the long run.
This seemed to offend Mr McIver's principles somewhat and he branded Jasta a business man, whose very actions were lessening the spirit and purity of the music he was producing.
I have to say the tone of the interview got my goat frankly..
Jasta, in my opinion, has got this right.
Hatebreed aren't exactly the most forward pushing bands and their fans appear to want more of the same - they have their path and they tread it regularly. It's exactly the reason that puts me off them that keeps their fans loyal, because they give them want they want. Besides Hatebreed are a BAND, it is a collective decision and if the songs don't fit, they don't fit - their are five guys with families who make a living from this, why mess with it?
Artistically just because you or I or Joel McIver don't find it challenging enough does it matter?
Having heard the songs I would hands down say that they don't belong on Kingdom Of Sorrow either - that band does push themselves, but rather than melodic hardcore sludge are they suddenly expected to jam in 'Something You Should Know' a hard rock stadium type anthem?
Are they fuck. Kirk Windstien would have probably walked out at that point laughing.
And anyway, Jasta wrote these songs on his own to please himself, recorded them and helped mix them so why should he turn them over and potentially damage two bands with a decent legacy?
I'm sure in Joel's world the idea that a musician trying to earn a living seems a little soulless, but honestly for someone who writes for a magazine who are owned by the Future Publishing group it's a little churlish to berate or question the integrity of someone who the dedication and passion for music that Jasta shows - whether you like him or not.
Having witnessed the backlash against Morbid Angel messing with their sound, I think Jasta was well within his rights to release this collection without the scrutiny of the music press destroying Hatebreed's reputation.
The universal comment on the reviews?
Not as good as Hatebreed or Kingdom of Sorrow.
Case closed - There is a difference between selling out (like Hatebreed suddenly releasing a pop album) and trying to make a living...
It's hard to make any money from album sales in this business this day and age; for the man to fund it out of his own pocket and front up to the industry machine without the armour, prebuilt fanbase and backing of his previous incarnations is actually profoundly brave and remarkably unbusiness-like and maybe Joel should stick to writing about Avenged fucking Sevefold, or The Black Veil Brides or whatever current, trendy, major label, guy liner wearing, Hot Topic sporting, flash in the pan fuckwits are all over Scuzz or Kerrang! TV in between the endless repeats of Green day and Blink 182 that the editorial slant of Metal Hammer feels required to push this week.
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