by a RAIL comrade
With this four song demo Hatebreed left many in awe and wanting more. The tape is short and painful, and is a must for all who like hard music. And anyone who has seen them live can attest that the breakdowns will incite violence.
Hatebreed's lyrics are about as cheerful as their music sounds. Kill A n Addict is a song of contempt for those addicted to drugs who will not allow friends to stop them from hurting themselves and others. Under the Kni fe and Smash Your Enemies are both songs about personal suffering. Jamey even asks, "should I put the razor to my wrist?" Although imperialism works well for Amerikans materially speaking, the psychological effects are one reaso n even Amerikans would benefit from communism. In fact, suicide is more commo n among the relatively wealthy, as are random acts of violence (turn on the news any day). These problems are common because of the empty lives fi rst world people lead. In general, they do not play productive roles in so ciety and lack a connection to the rest of society. Psychology responds to t his by further encouraging individualism to satisfy the emptiness in their li ves. MIM has also addressed how psychology is used by imperialism to neutra lize people who aren't happy living parasitically off the oppressed (1) One formerly suicidal comrade who rebuilt her sense of worth through polit ical activism wrote in a self-criticism, "The most meaningful existence for members of parasitic Amerika is to work for communism to destroy it." (1)
Filth is the one song that brings promise and some kind of message for change: "I won't celebrate your genocide and I won't consume your lies , and you cannot deny how your selfish ways kill and ruin innocent lives." W hile other songs deal with personal pain in an abstract way, here Hatebreed addresses some social problems. They seem to be condemning capitalist greed, but go on to admit they "see no cure." But then he says, "I'm gonna ta ke you out. I can justify your suffering, can you justify theirs?" While offe ring no solution to the current system, Hatebreed seems to promote a vengef ul attack against it. Rather than saying we will build the opposition of the oppressed and overthrow your rotten system, he talks as if he's person ally going to take out the oppressors. This focoist attitude is indicative of people in the U$ who don't realize that there are millions of people a round the world that are our potential allies against the system (imperialis m). It is stupid to throw our lives away in one attack on the government by a handful of revolutionaries here in the belly of the beast, when we can strategically build a movement in alliance with the people of the thir d world.
In Filth, Jamey also says, "I won't consume! I won't take part! I cann ot and I won't, I won't consume your filth!!!" Here Hatebreed takes the unrea listic approach of saying 'your system sucks so I'm not gonna be a part of it .' It is only the privileged here in Amerika that even have this option in t he first place. The reality is that we all live in this system and play o ur individual roles in it, until we can band together and change it. By pretending to opt out of the way things are run, one only allows them to continue on as they have been. For those who recognize that the curren t imperialist system causes unnecessary killing and suffering, you must become organized to overthrow it. That is the only way things will ever impro ve.
note: (1) MIM Theory 9: Psychology and Imperialism, available from MIM Distributors for $5
This long awaited full-length by CT's hardest is a worthy follow up to their popular demo. The new album doesn't quite have the quick in-your-face style that you get with the demo, but I don't think many will be disappointe d musically. The glimmer of hope that Filth provided for revolutionaries on the demo however, has faded. Aside from a few points here and there, Hatebreed proves their true nihilistic individualism on this album. Th is is the attitude that describes many of the tough guy bands in hardcore wh o basically sing about how life sucks. Jamey even bragged about bringing the "scumbag" image to Victory Records and replacing the former "clean-cut straightedge" bands.
About half of the songs (6 of 14) deal with lies and deception, eviden tly something Jamey has a lot of personal experience with. Empty Promises attacks religion for promising to save people. This is a good point, b ecause many religions teach people to reach for the great afterlife, causing them to ignore the problems of real life. Burn the Lies then condemns 'thei r' lies. If you replace 'they' with the media and its corporate sponsors then this song would have a good message, but Hatebreed doesn't specify who "they" are.
Puritan also addresses religion and addresses those who are motivated by greed to deceive others. The conclusion of the song is, "I see now man kind was not meant to last." This is the essence of their nihilistic view w hich claims there is no hope. Prepare for War is yet another song where Jam ey refuses to believe the lies of those who try to deceive him. He goes a s far to say, "No cause worthy of my respect." making it clear that he is no t going to bother to try and change things. Two lines earlier he states, "I have yet begun to fight." Other lyrics seem to indicate he is talking about fighting for himself (especially if he's not fighting for a cause). It seems an overly negative view of the world around him has led to selfish individualism. The fact that he rejects all causes, seems to indicate that he is ignorant of the many righteous struggles being carried out by th e oppressed in countries like the Philippines and Peru. A look at the ma inly bourgeoisie causes that exist in the imperialist United $tates may lea d someone to conclude that there are no worthy causes, but we must broad en our views and see what's going on in the rest of the world.
Not One Truth claims "We've lost our chance to save this dying world." Who knows what basis they have for this claim, but it seems that until hum yns kill themselves off they'll still have a chance to fix things. The son g's chorus states, "there is not one truth... only lies." Hatebreed seems to feel lost because the world around them is based on a morality that th ey cannot identify with. MIM encourages them to check out some of the information we have available to see that through Marxism, we can bett er understand reality and how to change it.
Hatebreed has clearly given up on the world. Betrayed By Life says, "I n a cold unforgiving world, alone with fear and weakness, oppressed and dy ing slowly. Countless people have been betrayed by life." Burial for the L iving and Driven By Suffering give similar bleak views of the world. However Burial for the Living ends, "Our only hope is vengeance." So there is hope according to Hatebreed. It is likely that they are referring to vengea nce against all of humankind for destroying the planet but it could be interpreted as vengeance of the oppressed masses against imperialism. Those who want vengeance against the people who destroy the earth for selfis h gains, should join MIM in the struggle. The hardcore scene doesn't nee d bands like Hatebreed telling us that there's no point in trying to cha nge the world, we can get that message from mainstream culture easily enou gh. We need to keep the positivity alive and bring back the youthful rebellio usness of punk.