The Concrete Confessional

Hatebreed’s blend of thrash metal and hardcore punk sounds as fresh in 2016 as it did 20 years ago. Lean, brutal, angry but redemptive, <i>The Concrete Confessional</i> is—like all Hatebreed’s albums—the sound of lone heroes clawing their way out of a world that seems to be perpetually falling apart. Nothing here lets up, from the breakneck opening of “A.D.” to the gang choruses of “Looking Down the Barrel of Today” and the textbook breakdowns of “Us Against Us”, where vocalist Jamey Jasta shouts his way out of the sludge.