By Avinash Mittur
It’s been eight long years since Steve “Zetro” Souza has committed his throat to a full time metal band. After giving the greatest vocal performance of his career on Exodus’ Tempo of the Damned in 2004, Zetro quit the legendary thrash act and stuck to one-offs and fun projects. The best of these was easily his supergroup Tenet’s only release Sovereign, an unjustly forgotten modern classic. Now the Bay Area veteran is returning to the thrash world with Hatriot, a band made up of virtual unknowns besides himself. After showing off a four song demo in all the way back in 2011, Hatriot’s debut record Heroes of Origin is finally set for physical release on February 12th through Massacre Records. This album will easily satisfy fans of old-school Bay Area thrash and fans of Zetro’s other work, and it’s a decent contribution to the bay’s rich catalog of metal.
Zetro’s nasal and wiry sneer is in just as fine form as it was on Tempo of the Damned. If anything, he sounds even more pissed off than ever before. Zet’s signature vocals aren’t enough to make a good metal album however- as any fan of this music knows, the riffs are ultimately the largest factor in an album’s quality. When it comes to Hatriot’s riff department, the band’s supply is ably provided by wunderkind Kosta V.- his riffing channels the spirit and styles of the classic Bay Area axemen so well that it’s almost scary (‘The Violent Times of My Dark Passenger’ could have easily been written by Eric Peterson in 1987), and his and Miguel Esparza’s dueling solos show a compositional confidence that is very rarely seen by guitarists this young. The rhythm section, Zetro’s two sons Nick and Cody on drums and bass respectively, also show off the skill and proficiency needed to play thrash well. In Nick’s case, this proficiency is almost to a fault- his playing is extremely precise and locked in, but there are many times when his drumming seems just a bit too metronomic when it should be propulsive. Otherwise, as a band, Hatriot is an absolutely tight unit- these guys have obviously put a ton of hours into practice and rehearsal, and it really shows on the end product. Juan Urteaga’s razor sharp engineering shows everyone off very well, it’s amazingly refreshing to listen to a thrash record where the bass is so present.
When it comes to the songs, the tracks on Heroes of Origin rip right on by, every single one of them. The best of them is easily ‘Murder American Style’. The swinging riffs on this track will be sure to summon a circle pit from even the barest of crowds, and the last two minutes feature some truly outstanding soloing from Kosta and Miguel. However, picking out other highlights from the album is actually a pretty difficult task. Most of the tracks on Heroes of Origin are of uniform quality, style and speed; for fans of nothing but breakneck thrash 24/7 this is great, but it makes for a surprisingly difficult listen for the rest of us. Where the best Exodus albums ebbed and flowed (‘War is My Shepherd’ followed by ‘Blacklist’ and ‘Fabulous Disaster’ preceding ‘The Toxic Waltz’ are classic examples), Heroes of Origin flies by at mach-ten for its entire 45 minutes, and that makes for an album where the songs are best appreciated one at a time. The tracks where Hatriot slow things down are where the band ultimately succeeds. ‘Blood Stained Wings’ and ‘And Your Children Be Damned’ both feature blast beats, but the best parts of the songs are their mid-tempo stomps, which often come off as heavier than the faster tracks on the album. The same can be said of ‘The Mechanics of Annihilation’, which also has some killer soloing from Kosta and Miguel. It’s surprising, but Heroes of Origin ends up being more about the debut of these two young guitarists than the return of Zetro.
Ultimately, Heroes of Origin is a tough album to be very critical of. This is Bay Area thrash metal without any of the dreaded “groove” or any other offensive elements that marked the creative downfall of so many legendary acts, and for that reason alone it’ll please quite a few metal fans out there. Kosta clearly has the ability to crank out vintage thrash riffs, but his best achievement on Heroes of Origin, ‘Murder American Style’, is the song that sounds the least like an Exodus or Testament song. Hatriot’s strength is in letting Kosta and Miguel run wild with their imaginations- restricting them to late eighties Bay Area thrash results in songs that will surely kill in the live setting, but when collected on an album become monotonous and tiring to get through. Songs like ‘Globicidal’ and ‘Weapons of Class Destruction’ fly right on by, but they lack the staying power of the best songs from the original Bay Area thrash movement. Heroes of Origin is a good and very respectable album, but it only hints at the potential that Hatriot clearly have. Hopefully record number two features some more dynamics throughout, and gives Kosta and Miguel even more room to stretch out and show off their skills. If Hatriot is this skilled of a unit by the time of their debut, they will be a true force to be reckoned with by the next go-around.
Rating: 7/10
Record Label: Massacre Records
Digital Release Date: January 25th 2013
Physical Release Date: February 12th 2013
Track Listing:
1. Suicide Run
2. Weapons Of Class Destruction
3. Murder American Style
4. Blood Stained Wings
5. The Violent Times Of My Dark Passenger
6. Globicidal
7. And Your Children To Be Damned
8. The Mechanics Of Annihilation
9. Shadows Of The Buried
10. Heroes Of Origin
Links:
Hatriot Official Website
Hatriot Facebook Page
Hatriot Twitter Page