Photos: Hatebreed Celebrates 30 Years in Cincinnati with the Help of Some Heavy Friends

Crypta kicked off the evening with their take on classic death metal, traveling all the way from São Paulo, Brazil, to join the tour. Metal as a genre is often criticized for being a boys club, but this all-female band shows that sometimes you need to bar the door and burn it down. Vocalist/bassist Fernanda Lira has an infectious energy that reminds us that a good opener should be bringing the energy up and not just killing time before the headliner. The band creates something new and fresh from the ashes of classic death metal and ‘80s thrash with hints of early black metal. The band blazed through a brisk six songs demonstrating the best material from their two studio albums. The opening spot can be a challenging position for a band with a cold audience, but Crypta had the audience eating from their hands and set the tone for the evening.

Between sets, there was a tension growing in the air as a technical issue pushed out the start of the second band’s set. With stage techs and engineers working quickly to troubleshoot, it was becoming evident that both the band and the crowd were not happy about the delay with irritation growing each passing minute. Once the issue was fixed, any frustration in the air was channeled through the crushing music of the second artist of the night. Harm’s Way from Chicago brought their metallic hardcore to the stage. The five piece, led by the commanding physical presence of James Pligge on vocals, gave a master class on hardcore and provided the soundtrack to a metaphorical beatdown. 

Carcass, hailing from Liverpool, England, represented the extreme side of metal. With lyrics that could easily be confused for an anatomy textbook and a mastery of their instruments that could only be described as surgical (see what I did there?), the band delivered their blend of death metal and grindcore. The band has made an art out of combining melodic yet technical riffs with blast beats as their lyrics touch upon mankind’s gorier and malicious tendencies with songs such as “Corporal Jigsore Quandary” and “Genital Grinder.” To drive the point home, two video boards behind the band flashed with images of surgical tools and extremely graphic clips of their intended use. It was an odd juxtaposition to see the vulgar reminder of life’s fragility contrasted with the personable and friendly demeanor of frontman Jeff Walker. While the spotlight is on Hatebreed’s well-deserved anniversary, I would be remiss to not point out that we are only one year shy of celebrating Carcass’ 40 years of brutality and the death metal genre is a better place with them leading the way.

For 30 years, Hatebreed have dedicated their career to heavy anthems and bridging the gap between hardcore and metal. Hatebreed formed during a time of transition in the hardcore scene. As the youth crew scene of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s was burning out and growing older, a new breed of metal-influenced hardcore began to emerge. Once two distinct subgenres, bands such as Hatebreed, Earth Crisis and Integrity showed that there was more common ground than differences between punk rock-influenced hardcore and the more technical elements of metal.

Just before the band took the stage, a video played showing the impact that Hatebreed has had on hardcore. Pre-recorded messages from thrash metal icons Scott Ian (Anthrax), groove and doom metal icon Kirk Windstein (Crowbar), punk rocker Al Barr (Dropkick Murphys/The Bruisers) to broader cultural icons such as professional wrestling’s CM Punk (WWE) and comedian Brian Posehn reminded the crowd of just how big the Hatebreed family is. 

Hardcore has a knack for breaking down barriers between the performers and the audience. While I’m thankful that the physical barrier held up (hey, cameras are expensive), it’s unmistakable to see the connection between the orchestrated chaos of Hatebreed on stage and the frenzied energy of the crowd. Vocalist Jamey Jasta gave his marching orders to the Hatebreed army — the band demanded their energy with calls for a circle pit and the audience was happy to oblige. 

For the next hour-plus, Hatebreed gave a masterclass on metalcore with heavy riffs and punishing breakdowns. From fan favorites to deeper cuts, Hatebreed provided a testament of their 30-year legacy. Highlights included fan favorites such as “Destroy Everything” to songs that helped launch the band in the mid-’90s, such as “Before Dishonor.” Between songs, Jasta lauded Bogart’s and shared memories of the band’s visits to the venue. While there are newer and fancier venues in town, Jasta demonstrated that Bogart’s was a cultural landmark for our music scene. While you could certainly find a battered, perhaps bloody and certainly exhausted face, you’d have a hard time finding a disappointed one by the end of the evening.

Keep scrolling to see photos from Hatebreed’s show at Bogart’s on Monday night.

Photos by Bryan Houston