Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, and Hatebreed

One of the highly-revered ‘big four’ of the thrash metal genre, alongside their contemporaries Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax, Slayer have always been defined by two thing; the ferocity and speed with which they play, and the deeply dark nature of their thematic approach and lyricism, where pretty much nothing has been off limits - everything from Satanism to necrophilia has cropped up over the course of their ten records to date. The group is currently comprised of King on guitar, bass-playing frontman Tom Araya, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt; founding guitar player Hannemann passed away last year. The band made their name with their third album, “Reign in Blood”, in 1986; that record’s kind-of title track “Raining Blood” is effectively their signature song.

They’ve continued to both entertain, influence and provoke in equal measure ever since; from (albeit inadvertently) managing to release a record entitled “God Hates Us All” on September 11th, 2001 to routinely being accused of Nazi sympathies, Slayer have certainly earned more than their fair share of notoriety, but it’s perhaps in terms of their huge influence on the genre of metal in general that they’ll be best remembered over time; everybody from System of a Down to Slipknot to Darkthrone have attributed some of their style to Slayer over the years, proving their towering stature within the metal community.

The group have certainly had their fair share of controversy over a 33-year period. Suicidal Tendencies have been thought of as a group who promoted violence through their quick-tempoed and aggressive sounding music and also rumours that claimed that some of the band members had gang connections. In 1981, Flipside awarded them their Worst Band Award, but S.T. were ironically voted the 'Best New Band' the following year by the same fanzine.

In a nine year period before the start of the nineties, Suicidal Tendencies released five albums including their self-titled first release, which received the plaudits of icons from the metal/punk genre. Since their inception, they have been known for their fast and furious music and often rowdy concerts. During the 1980's, the group were banned from playing shows in Los Angeles after fans destroyed the venue they were performing in.

After their two year break from music, Suicidal Tendencies returned with a completely new band line up and new sound. S.T have always experimented with different genres normally ranging between structured punk to the more hardcore thrash metal sound. The group are comfortable at catering for either genre and have gained a massive fanbase as a result.

Suicidal Tendencies have been influenced by many bands over the years including Anthrax (who have given them credit numerous times), Black Sabbath, Motorhead and Limp Bizkit. Their latest album, "13", was released on their own record label "Suicidal".

Hatebreed started out by producing a three-song demo and selling it to local people in Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut, U.S., and was eventually released in 1995 on a split seven inch with fellow band New York’s Neglect. Consisting of Jamey Jasta on vocals, Lou Richards on guitar, Chris Beattie on bass, Sean Martin on guitar and Rigg Ross on drums, the band self-released the critically acclaimed EP “Under the Knife” in 1996 which has been re-released by all of Hatebreed’s subsequent labels.

The band’s aim was to identify what was important about hardcore music; the thrashing guitars, the screamed vocals, the huge, heavy drums and make that the soul of their sound. The band’s 1997 release “Satisfaction is the Death of Desire” did exactly that, released on then the most reliable hardcore label Victory Records, the album was the highest selling album the label had ever witnessed.

The influence of touring with mainstream metal bands Deftones, Entombed and Slayer was evident on Hatebreed’s following two albums “Perseverance” released in 2002 and 2003’s “The Rise of Brutality”. 2004 saw the band join Slayer, Slipknot and Mastodon on the Unholy Alliance tour of Europe and introduced the band to a wider audience. In 2004 the Hatebreed was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance, ultimately losing out to Motörhead.

Prior to the band’s 2006 full-length album “Supremacy” released on Roadrunner Records, Hatebreed performed at Download Festival in Donnington, UK, and Ozzfest with the likes of Disturbed and Avenged Sevenfold.

Guitarist Frank Novinec was added to the line-up in 2006 as well as Wayne Lozinak in 2008 and both played on the covers album “For the Lions” which dropped in May 2009 as well as the band’s self-titled album in September 2009. “The Divinity of Purpose” Hatebreed’s sixth studio album was released on January 25, 2013 and was another in long line of successes for the band, who have sold over 1.1 million records worldwide.