Hatebreed – For The Lions

It was about time for Hatebreed to do something they have always wanted and had been in their minds the last years: playing tribute to the bands that influenced them play music, by covering some songs in the Hatebreed way.

This covers album starts with the ideal way: A song from the band that set the stage of what ever’s extreme today: Slayer! And not a typical song but ”Ghosts of War”. A good choice and a good interpretation also. Then comes maybe the best cover of all, ”Suicidal Maniac” by Suicidal Tendencies. ”Escape” from the band of bands, Metallica suits better lyrically than musically to the whole album, while i really loved ”All I Had I Gave” by the mighty Crowbar.

In overall, this is not a sample of the future of Hatebreed, just a one off they did for themselves and for fun. So it depends on the mood of each individual and the music he’s grown with, to judge how the covers sound like. I expected a better cover on Sepultura’s ”Refuse/Resist” or Obituary’s ”I’m In Pain” for example, while ”Your Mistake” by professors in hardcore Agnostic Front has been much better played by Fear Factory and Pro-Pain in the past.

I enjoyed it a lot, i can’t express any complaints to be honest. But instead of getting a lot into it, the feeling of waiting a new record from them, has grown inside me even more now. I will also see them twice live in a space between 2 weeks and i hope they could play some of these tracks.

If it was another band, i might not show such interest in a covers release. But they put a lot of love into this and we gotta give them that as a point.