HATEBREED SMASHED THE WILTERN IN LOS ANGELES WITH HELP FROM CARCASS, HARM’S WAY AND CRYPTA
The hardcore legends in Hatebreed stormed through Los Angeles last week, celebrating the band’s 30th anniversary with what might be the loudest concert ever at the famed Wiltern Theater. The band’s current North American tour with Carcass, Harm’s Way, and Crypta brought out LA’s metal and hardcore fans during a weeknight, all eager to scream their hearts out alongside Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta later in the evening. Countless 21st-century metal fans discovered the world of hardcore thanks to Hatebreed’s 2002 milestone album, Perseverance, just as legions of hardcore kids dipped their toes into thrash and death metal because of Hatebreed’s genre-bending tour packages throughout the 2000s. Decades later, Hatebreed cultivated a massive and diverse fan base that they continue to share with pioneers like Carcass and up-and-comers like Crypta.
A good-sized crowd arrived early to watch Crytpa kick the evening’s festivities off with a bang. They might be a relatively new band, but there’s a reason why Crypta is being hailed as the new queens of Brazilian metal, as they ripped through their short set with unbridled passion and intensity. The hardcore titans in Harm’s Way followed up with a masterclass in bludgeoning riff-ology. Frontman James Pligge led the growing audience inside the Wiltern in war cries as he leaped across the stage. The band’s dark, moody lighting fit the vibe of their pummeling sound and seemed to win over even the longest-haired metal purest. I’m sure their cover of Sepultura’s classic “Propaganda” w/ Crypta screamer Fernanda Lira also helped win over any stragglers. The legendary death metal pioneers in Carcass damn near blew the roof off the place with their lock-step precision and the perfect blend of melodic guitar melodies and over-the-top blast beats.
And then, there was Hatebreed. The night’s headliners brought their A-game and loudest speakers in their arsenal as they tore through songs throughout the band’s discography. Hatebreed has been switching up their setlist on this tour in a rad move, playing different songs or swapping the order in each city. Los Angeles had many tracks from the band’s 1997 debut album, Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire. The Wiltern is a large, cavernous Art Deco theater with staggered multi-tiered general admission viewing decks and a large seated balcony…not exactly a winning formula for wild hardcore and metal shows. Of course, when you’ve got Hatebreed tunes like “Tear It Down” and “Smash Your Enemies” blasting through the PA, literally shaking the floorboards up in the balcony, even an unconventional venue such as this couldn’t help but explode with energy amidst their raucous headlining set. During the climatic breakdown of “Proven,” guitarist Wayne Lozinak had the entire audience in his hand, taking center stage and riffing the night away. The band wrapped things up with a pummeling rendition of “I Will Be Heard,” where Jamey Jasta led the LA crowd in one of the loudest singalongs ever conjured. Congratulations to Hatebreed; we can’t wait to see what their 31st year of existence will bring.