Hatriot – Heroes of Origin (Massacre Records)
Sunday, 7th April 2013
I hate the idea of ripping into a guy, especially after he brings his family into the mix, but Steve “Zetro” Souza’s new band is a blessing and a curse. I won’t rehash all that jazz about Zetro’s past glories, and by now I am sure everyone knows all about his time fronting Exodus. In fact, our nasally inclined vocalist continues to cut a path of thrash destruction in his new band Hatriot, and the kicker here is that he’s brought two of his sons along for the apocalyptic ride.
The band’s debut album is meant to truly be a feel good story when you consider his sons Nick and Cody have taken up positions in the band. Nick plays bass and Cody is on the drums respectively, but it doesn’t make the music on this release any better than it should be. I was hoping for the kind of performance he laid down on Tempo of the Damned, what with that fierce snarl bellowing up and sounding super pissed in the process. He gave thrash fans a career defining moment as far as I am concerned, but he’s totally bottomed out here on Heroes of Origin.
The music remains terse as ever and it never lets up for the 45 minutes of running time, but nothing sticks out to me. Maybe “Murder American Style” is the closet to the adrenaline fueled rush of classic 80’s thrash, but the majority of the songs lack any true staying power. I honestly wanted more from Zetro and there are some vintage thrash riffs being cranked out here, just not enough guts to truly fit the part of what is expected from a Bay area thrash legend.
http://www.hatriotmetal.com/
