HATEBREED: Rare B-Sides

There are two things you should know about this blog ... firstly, I don't post music that is still in press and readily available for purchase and secondly, Hatebreed will always be my shit.

That being said, I've spent countless hours searching for these rarities that I present to you now. I caught wind a few months ago that Hatebreed offered multiple editions of their most recent, self-titled release from early 2010. Here is the breakdown:

Wal-Mart Edition (no longer carried) included two bonus tracks entitled Lay It All To Waste and Preservation Of Belief which are living proof that even Hatebreed's throw-away B-sides are better than mostly everything else that exists within heavy music today.

iTunes Pre-Order Only Edition (no longer available for purchase) included re-recorded versions of the final two songs from the Under The Knife sessions that were yet to be re-worked. Filth and Kill An Addict have always been two of my favorite Hatebreed songs and it's awesome to hear them finally recorded in a session where you can hear things other than the china cymbal.

There was a "Deluxe" edition that included a DVD with two live shows and live recordings of To The Threshold and As Diehard As They Come but that is still available for purchase from several retailers so I chose to not include these for download.

I literally spent well over 5 hours searching online for these tracks and gladly would have paid for them if purchasing these tracks were still an option. It's a shame that material this good fades into obscurity due to exclusivity deals these major retailers (Wal Mart and iTunes) force upon bands in order to push their releases.

Fuck buying music from Wal Mart and/or iTunes ... here are the bonus tracks from the various "Special Editions" from Hatebreed's self-titled masterpiece. Just as a bonus, here is a link to the YouTube video I made for the ALMOST as rare re-recording of Severed (another Under The Knife classic) from the UK Edition of the Supremacy album.



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TEARS OF FRUSTRATION: Discography

Lately, I've been engaging myself in quite a few political debates; something I haven't been doing for the past few years. I'm typically quite the isolationist when it comes to ... well, life in general. With our country's upcoming election, however, I decided to take the time to at least find out a little bit about what the new direction of our country is going to be taking (whether we like it or not). Personally, I'm of the persuasion that the voting process is merely a schmoz designed to keep people dormant and as content as possible and that even if the elections WERE legitimate, the two parties simply take different paths to the same destination anyhow.

That being said, I'm not one for politics. Running the hamster wheel never appealed to me. I've always been moreso interested in being a person of high moral character and respect regardless of party affiliation or minute differences in political or religious beliefs. Subscribing to a set of ideals inherent in one party or another always seemed rather submissive and mindless to me. I've always respected those who held themselves accountable for their own destiny, chose to work hard for what they had and took pride in themselves, their work and their country.

A while back I did a post about a little-known band from New Jersey called Tears Of Frustration. At the time, I posted about them in comparison to One Life Crew; a band with similar politics yet without the work ethic or respect that Tears Of Frustration was known for. That's not to say I'm anti-OLC, but the band obviously stooped considerably low and took part in some questionable activity in order to get a rise out of the hardcore scene at the time. Tears Of Frustration, on the other hand, took their message and music extremely seriously.

Typically taken as a "political" band, frontman Joe Falzone has went on record many times to clarify the fact that their lyrics were moreso based around personal outlook as opposed to playing into a Left v Right game or subscribing to either conservative or liberal values. Being in Path To Misery, I've always related to this sentiment. Allow me to digress to speak on the band for a bit.

Tears Of Frustration played a rather standard style of hardcore, yet managed to perfect the craft of doing so. The songs are simple riffs within simple structures while harnessing every ounce of energy that a hardcore band is capable of doing. The songs are short and to-the-point which contributes to their catchy nature. The choruses and vocal hooks are every bit as memorable as your favorite Hatebreed line while the verses drive every bit as hard as a Terror banger. While the band takes on a more traditional style of hardcore than either of the comparisons I made, their songs' ability to stay in your head rival that of both previously mentioned bands.

While I could put words into their mouths like everyone else chose to do (despite being considerably more educated on the band than the detractors), I decided to take the time to rip their section from the Guerrilla Warfare video zine series that were put out in the early 2000s to document the underground NJHC scene. Here you go:




I made my one and only trip to CBGB's in NYC to see their reunion show at CBGBs in 2006. The soundboard recording was actually utilized for a live 7" that band chose to use the picture on the left as the cover for. Yes, that's me singing along back when my scar was the only hair I was missing on the top of my head.

The band did not disappoint in the slightest at the reunion show and actually played another show when they opened up the Superbowl Of Hardcore in 2008 (which I unfortunately did not attend). They made promises of playing out more frequently on top of recording new material but unfortunately have not followed up with anything since this show (at least to my knowledge).

While I typically can't stomach listening to most bands who play this style of hardcore these days, Tears Of Frustration stays on the top of any hardcore playlist I make from time-to-time. In my original post on the band back in 2009, I only made their self-titled demo compilation available for download. This time around, however, I've chosen to include their Lost Identity full length as well as high resolution scans of the booklets so that you can read along with the lyrics. While I've obviously been considerably praising of their music, the lyrics and attitude of the band is truly what keeps me interested in what they're about well over a decade after their demise.

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Quick Apology Post

I just wanted to drop in and make a quick apology to the long-time readers of the blog. A couple years ago I had an anti-One Life Crew post up. I took it down not long after posting simply because I had to remember that everyone in hardcore has a right to speak their mind regardless of whether it aligns with my personal beliefs or not.

I recently got into a mini-squabble online with the PC mediators of Pittsburgh "Hardcore" (I call it punk) and it brought back bad memories of my One Life Crew post. The situation definitely made me reflect on my OLC post again.

The older I'm getting and the more of the world that I'm experiencing, I'm starting to see the grey areas and the different aspects that can arise to shape someone's world view. While I may not agree with all of what OLC was saying, I definitely am into the way they went about challenging the rigid and sterile 90s hardcore scene.

Challenging and being challenged is the only true way for people to grow in their beliefs. One Life Crew was essentially the flip side of the Racetraitor quarter ... so I need to respect them as well.

In celebration of my new-found respect for One Life Crew (and in apology for my previous bashing) ... here is their discography.

If you hate them so much, then download this and listen to their lyrics for yourself (as opposed to buying into someone else's heresy), tell me what you hate so much and I'll gladly have it out with you on it. I'll probably actually do an entire blog write-up once I read all the hate mail.

Not to mention that Cleveland bands from the 90s wrote the hardest shit (sorry, NYC).



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PATH TO MISERY: Pre-Production 2011

These are the first two songs we've recorded in 3 and a half years. This is far from an official release and to be honest, I wouldn't even consider this demo quality. These are merely two pre-production tracks that we recorded, mixed and "mastered" in 6 hours (by ourselves) that we wanted to share in hopes that people will be familiar with them at our show with Earth Crisis and Cavalera Conspiracy next Wednesday, October 19th. There's two songs in one file and the lyrics are as follows...

1 - HUMAN CULTIVATION

To maintain restriction ... erase all trace of conviction.

Subversive manipulation through mental annihilation. Encaged by abusive expectations and lured into a social system: a perverted reality. Psychological prisoner only seeking to aid in the interrogation. An occasional indulgence in exchange for docility. Demonstrating false omnipotence to suggest futility ... propagating distress and despair ... inducing debility.

To maintain restriction ... erase all trace of conviction.

Physical control can only come through cooperation

Suffer alone in silence ... ensuring your total compliance

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2 - VEIL OF DISCONNECTION

Blinded by a veil of disconnection, we remain twice removed from the repercussions of the lives we portray as empathetic to the injustices of the world and the exploitation of the lives betrayed

Over and over again ... heedlessness will reign down

Fuck your god and fuck your faith when it imposes upon the fate of those without the means to defend from the life you attempt to maintain

Convictions abandoned ... conveniences praised as your god

There will be no allegiance to those who turn to sin

With every life, an assurance of death ... an endless cycle of misery
While I accept the truth of this world ... I refuse to adhere to its code

Never-ending intolerance ... for decimation brought about by their hands




Human Cultivation is a song we wrote last week that represents the "new" direction that the band is headed towards due to our new (and stable) line-up. When I say "new" all I mean is leaning moreso towards some of our influences we've had all along (Machine Head, Soulfly, Living Sacrifice, Candiria). Lyrically the song deals with those who seek to control others in whatever form they see fit ... whether it be on the massive scale of governmental institutions or the seemingly menial scale of a one-on-one relationship.

Veil Of Disconnection is actually three years old exactly now and was the first track the "original" line-up wrote after the full length. When I say "original" I mean some combination of the 10-15 members that were in the band leading up to the full length. Some of you may have heard this song played out live at one of our 6 shows we've played in the past 3 years. The lyrics to this song are perhaps some of the more scathing I've ever written (or at least I'd like to think) which attack those who use their religion, faith, code, beliefs or whatever they would like to label it as an excuse to live their lives the way they see fit without regard to the fragile ecosystem (and all of the living things within it) that harbors the life they would like to attribute to whatever god or spirit it is they believe in. Fuck off.

Please feel free to share opinions on the tracks. They may or may not be re-recorded for our EP that we're going to start writing in November. Speaking of which ... expect the blog to start picking back up in November. Thanks for being patient.

Oh yeah, and we have a Facebook page now (lame) ... www.facebook.com/pathtomisery ... communicate with us.

RACETRAITOR: Two More Live Sets

The first set from California sometime in 1997.



And the second set from New Jersey in 1999.

RACETRAITOR: Full Live Set

Full set from the Fireside Bowl in Chicago in 1998.

I have two other full sets coming in the next two days.

This Rules

Favorite band covering favorite band. That is cool.