The Kentish Town Forum is a remarkable venue for many reasons although this is largely due to its Roman fantasist decor rather than the quality of its sound. Hatebreed took the stage somewhat incongruously surrounded by Roman military standards and motifs in front of a rapt audience who had already enjoyed an afternoon or old school hardcore from Terror and Madball.
I thought I was a massive Hatebreed fan, yet throughout much of this gig I didn't have a clue what songs they were playing. Initially I thought this was due to the serious sound problems that the Forum suffers from, but it transpired that my lack of recognition was due to their set being dedicated to their first and second albums. I know that 80s hardcore legends Madball were supporting, which might have attracted an older crowd (there were a couple of greybeards in the audience), but seriously Hatebreed's first album came out when I was 14. Probably Madball were the only people (other than the greybeards) in the audience who could go to those shows and drink.
This was all a massive shame as Hatebreed have some incredible songs littered throughout their back catalogue but constrained by this premise they played very few of them and almost nothing off their fantastic new record. Hatebreed's brilliance is in their ability on each of their albums to write 2 or 3 classics tracks amongst the bog standard hardcore fillers. Despite being quite a limited band they have regularly created inventive classic hardcore songs, when they don't play these they revert to just being another one-dimensional hardcore band, which is probably appropriate considering that the masters of one-dimensional hardcore, Madball, were supporting. When they did finally play Looking Down the Barrel of Today and Destroy Everything it just served as a reminder about how great Hatebreed can be when they play their best material. The inevitable result was a mediocre gig, well below the high standards that Hatebreed have set themselves.
This was all a massive shame as Hatebreed have some incredible songs littered throughout their back catalogue but constrained by this premise they played very few of them and almost nothing off their fantastic new record. Hatebreed's brilliance is in their ability on each of their albums to write 2 or 3 classics tracks amongst the bog standard hardcore fillers. Despite being quite a limited band they have regularly created inventive classic hardcore songs, when they don't play these they revert to just being another one-dimensional hardcore band, which is probably appropriate considering that the masters of one-dimensional hardcore, Madball, were supporting. When they did finally play Looking Down the Barrel of Today and Destroy Everything it just served as a reminder about how great Hatebreed can be when they play their best material. The inevitable result was a mediocre gig, well below the high standards that Hatebreed have set themselves.
In sport you hear the cliche about playing down to your opponent, this was the music equivalent of playing down to your support act. Not a good idea. 3/5
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