American thrashers HATRIOT are back in 2014 with their sophomore album, Dawn of the New Centurion, which was released on February 21, 2014 via Massacre Records. The band is once again teamed up with producer Juan Urteaga and Mark DeVito. This is a brutal collection of well crafted head bangers. It easily out performs the first album, Heroes of Origin, in both the intensity department and technical musicianship. It all kicks off with the speeding like a bullet “My Cold Dead Hands”, followed by the gritty power of “Your Worst Enemy” and the pit slamming “The Fear Within”. Let me make it clear that the guitar solos delivered are some of the best I have heard in the past few years. The guitar duo of Kosta Varvatakis and Miguel Esparza is definitely one metal heads need to seriously start paying attention to. With a bouncing bass played by Zetro’s son Cody Souza and the unrelenting blast beat drumming of his other child, Nicholas Souza, the rhythm section the second time around is beyond being locked in. No doubt about it. This band is meaner, tougher, and more dialed in at this point.
When a band’s songwriting can not only rip your head off but still lock you into a groove, they have done their job. What do you get from legendary vocalist Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza himself? How about one of the most psychotic voices in all of metal? The former EXODUS singer sounds like he is getting more vicious as he gets older. What do they feed this man? Raw meat? And he sounds like he gargled a box of nails before he stepped up to the microphone. That’s all I want in a good thrash singer is a set of pipes that matches the serial killer rasp of Blitz from Overkill, while coming close to the ferocity of Philip H. Anselmo. Point blank, ‘Zetro’ has still got it. Up next the band gallantly marches more thrash greatness down your throat in the form of “Honor in the Rise and Fall”, “Superkillafragsadisticactsaresoatrocious”, and my personal favorite “Silence in the House of the Lord”.
Closing out with “World Funeral’, the title track “Dawn of the New Centurion”, and the potent “Consolation for the Insane”, this album finishes strong. Any fan of classic and modern thrash will dig what this band is throwing down. The potential of this group is limitless. I look forward to seeing them get even better.
ROCKET REVIEW:
[starreview tpl=16]
HATRIOT – “Dawn Of The New Centurion” (CD)
(Nuclear Blast Records/2014)
1 – My Cold Dead Hands
2 – Your Worst Enemy
3 – The Fear Within
4 – Honor in the Rise and Fall
5 – Superkillafragsadisticactsaresoatrocious
6 – Silence in the House of the Lord
7 – World Funeral
8 – Dawn of the New Centurion
9 – Consolation for the Insane
http://www.hatriotmetal.com/
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