Those Spaced songs are great btw. One of my fav current hardcore bands too. Tons of energy and they have some of my favorite artwork/visuals
Yeah the Scowl EP is very whatever, definitely agree they should commit to the alt-rock sound, but the hooks just aren’t there. Not yet, anyway.
I said this before when I saw them: their new sound may not be everyone’s thing but the songs go off live. I give them a lot of credit for adapting and moving beyond Flowers. With a front woman like Kat they are destined for something bigger than what hardcore can provide.
I personally prefer Scowl live to their recordings. Having listened to the band members on podcasts and learning more about them, it makes a lot more sense to me. Kat is someone who is still relatively new to hardcore and punk, but has been drinking from the firehose so to speak in the last few years. But in general is more drawn to stuff like Garbage. Malachi, her partner and main songwriter, seems to come from more straight forward punk and hardcore. He is the one with friends in the Bay Area hardcore scene, which is why they came up through it. Clearly, as Kat continues to get experience, the sound will move more in her direction. I think they will always keep some of their original identity and they have certainly put in the DIY work, but you add Kat’s influences and melodic trends on their releases, with some of the more accessible tours and festival adds and it’s pretty clear where they are heading. But that’s a win for hardcore if it works.
their bass player is my barber. he’s been telling me about how hard it is to get their singer to commit to many shows outside of Texas over the last few years. the rest of the band wanted to accept an offer to Furnace Fest and the singer shot it down. but they did start writing recently, so maybe that’ll help.
Also, I think in terms of exposure, popularity, and success, Hatebreed is most definitely one of the top three greatest hardcore bands of all time. Always consistent, not really a trailblazer but they dependably never let you down time and again. Also the perfect gym band.
Even the dumb rednecks i went to highschool with in middle of nowhere northeast ohio loved hatebreed.
Same. When I think of hardcore, it’s Satisfaction. I wore my Hatebreed Brody King shirt last week and when I was a Walmart a guy said, “I haven’t thought of that band in years. I bet they’re still rocking.”
Satisfaction and Master Killer are two of my favorite HC production jobs. Guitar tone is sick, the drums really pop, they have parts that make me feel like I have single digit IQ. Can’t ask for much more than that.