Hatebreed is able to play with every band, it doesn’t really matter if it’s metal or hardcore, they just blend in. The other way around it does matter which other band plays with Hatebreed, looking at the reaction of the crowd and the interest of the present hardcore kids while Seita was playing. Seita played a heavy death/thrash metal set that lasted for over half an hour, but the crowd reacted in a very tame way. The vibe of their music reminded me a bit of former Venezuelan/Amsterdam based band Agresión, but it didn’t really catch on unfortunately.
 

After Seita I was a bit scared the Hatebreed show would be a bit of a letdown as well, but fortunately the venue filled up quite nicely and the energy was overwhelming. Right from the intro tape with the Rocky theme song blasting through the speakers the crowd was ready to go and some goes for the band. With ‘Everyone Bleeds Now’ they immediately set the bar high. Singer Jamey Jasta had a bit of a sore throat, but he compensated well with a high energy level.
 

In 75 minutes Hatebreed played 23 songs with the main focus on the older songs from the albums Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire, Perseverance and The Rise Of Brutality. The crowd went totally berserk on some timeless anthems like ‘This Is Now’ and ‘I Will Be Heard’, but also on the more rare ones like ‘Conceived Through An Act Of Violence’ and ‘Under The Knife’. At the end of the set they did a much appreciated tribute to the deceased Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman with a cover of ‘Ghost Of War’ and closing with the crushing ‘Destroy Everything’ tops it off perfectly. Missed this show? They’ll be back for the Fortarock festival in june.