Thirty years... for thirty years, Hatebreed has brought destruction and brutality to the world since emerging onto the scene in 1994. All those years culminated into one special night on March 17th, at the Toyota Oakdale Center in Wallingford, Connecticut where the band celebrated its 30th Anniversary, called The March Metal Matinee.
Hatebreed is a hardcore band from Bridgeport, Connecticut that was formed in 1994. The band is made up of Jamey Jasta (vocals), Wayne Lozinak (guitar), Frank Novinec (guitar), Chris Beattie (bass), and Matt Byrne (drums) and are currently signed to Nuclear Blast Records. Hatebreed has become a prominent figure in the hardcore scene and has paved the way for many of today’s hardcore bands. Their debut album, Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire was released on November 11th 1997 via Victory Records and put Hatebreed on the map. It got them out of Connecticut’s local scene and established a cult following for the band and even got the band a record deal with Universal where they would then release Perseverance and The Rise of Brutality under in 2002 and 2003. The band has a total of eight studio albums and they have shown a wide range of hardcore, metalcore, heavy metal and even beatdown across all releases. Their most recent album Weight of The False Self was released on November 27th, 2020.
A montage played at the beginning of the set, showing the band's legacy over the years as well as multiple artists and well known figures including Lamb of God, Terror, Anthrax, Shinedown, Ice-T, Slayer, Biohazard, former Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson and WWE wrestler Braun Strowman, paying tribute to Hatebreed and congratulating them on their recent milestone. Hatebreed made their way onto the stage and the crowd was already getting hyped up. Jasta screamed "THIS IS THE SOUND", the opening words to "To The Threshold" the fourth track off their 2006 album, Supremacy. Fans recognized the words immediately and sang them right back at him and the pit was already going crazy. Jasta wanted to see everyone off their feet for the next song, "A Stroke Of Red" and the entire floor was on their feet once the song kicked in. Jasta knows how to command a crowd and get them to do what he wants them to do and fans will happily oblige.
Jasta wanted everyone to wake up the next day without their voices after this next one which was two simple words; "Destroy Everything". The pit was going crazy by the time Jasta chanted the words. Every time Hatebreed plays this song live, it's nothing but complete chaos and the floor turns into a battlefield and fans start to crowd surf as well. The song sits at #3 on Spotify with over 34.3 million streams and is one of the band's most popular songs. Jasta would give out specific instructions to the crowd on opposite sides but he would instead refer to the left side as “Wayne’s side” and the right side as “Chris and Frankie’s side” in reference to where Lozinak, Novinec and Beattie were standing on stage. He did this to prepare the crowd for the song “In Ashes They Shall Reap” from the 2009 self-titled album Hatebreed. He instructed “Wayne’s side” to say the words “fighting to succeed” and “Chris and Frankie’s side” to say “what this world throws at me” and each side learned their part fast.
Hatebreed had some surprises in store for the night and brought out original drummer Dave Russo and rhythm guitarist Larry Dwyer Jr. for the songs "Not One Truth" and "Under The Knife", both off of the 1996 Under The Knife demo. Old school Hatebreed fans started two stepping and a circle pit formed. Fans were in delight seeing a piece of Hatebreed history live, especially since it was the original lineup, plus Novinec. The surprise guests didn't stop there though. Shortly after Russo and Dwyer Jr exited the stage, Jasta introduced another former member of the band that played a prominent role in the bands growth; former guitarist Sean Martin. Martin was the band's rhythm guitarist from 1999 to 2009 and has appeared on the albums; Perseverance, The Rise of Brutality, and Supremacy, he joined the band on tour in late 2022, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Perseverance and currently plays in the band Twitching Tongues. Martin joined his former band on stage for the songs "Proven", "This Is Now", and "Beholder of Justice".
The band's 30th anniversary wasn't the only thing they celebrated, for it was also Lozinak's 50th birthday. A cake was brought out for him while Jasta led the audience into singing Happy Birthday to Lozinak. With anniversaries, birthdays and even St. Patrick's Day, the whole day was filled with nothing but celebrations. The pit turned from a circle to a trenched shaped one during the song “Tear It Down” which is off Rise of Brutality. The fans were two stepping and throwing down while screaming back “TEAR IT DOWN!” and just going crazy. The rowdiness from the pit continued well into the song, “Smash Your Enemies”, as there was a lot of two stepping and pushing with not one person standing still the entire time and fans were chanting “PERSEVERANCE” during the song “Perseverance”.
Hatebreed had two songs left and Jasta said they would just play through them without doing an encore. The first song was “Looking Down the Barrel of Today” which is the second track off their 2016 album The Concrete Confessional. This song is known for its infectious hook chant “NO SLEEP! NO REST!” which fans were chanting back with every last bit of strength they had while another circle pit formed. With one last song left, Hatebreed intended on ending this special night with a bang, and that was in the form of the fan-favorite, “I Will Be Heard”. The song is the lead single off Perseverance and has been a set staple since its release, usually as the closing song. Jasta teased the song to the crowd by telling them to get ready to either sing the words with him or give them every last bit of energy they had left from “Chris and Frankie’s side to Wayne’s side”. He then proceeded to chant the opening line “NOW, IS THE TIME !” which fans recognized instantly and started changing the words back to him. Fans gave it everything they had and more, from crowd surfing to hardcore dancing to pushing to two stepping to just simply singing along to every word, fans made sure the show ended in a memorable way. The band finishes the song and Jasta thanked the crowd one last time before walking off stage.
That concludes The March Metal Matinee, Hatebreed’s 30th anniversary AND Lozinak‘s 50th birthday show. A night full of moshing, two stepping, drinking, riffs, birthdays, and straight up hardcore and heavy metal music. This is only just the beginning of the band's anniversary celebrations as they are heading to Europe this summer for a number of festival appearances as well as headlining shows with Crowbar as support. They will then tour across North America in the fall with CRYPTA, Harms Way, and Carcass.
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