Before the Unholy Alliance tour kicked off, we offered our street team, the chance to interview Hatebreed. The teamer who sent in the best questions, would be able to ask the band their questions, and have the answers posted here. The winner was chosen, and his interview with Sean Martin, Hatebreed’s guitarist, follows (in 3 parts). Teamer: Having played a very groundbreaking headline London show at Garage two years ago, are you looking forward to performing your material to a new wave of Hatebreed fans? Sean: Yes, definitely. Yeah, without a doubt. It’s going to be a great opportunity to play to a lot of new people. Teamer: To many, ‘Under the Knife’ and ‘Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire’ have come to epitomise the sound of hardcore. Do you feel this is the case or is your newer material the sound you would like to be remembered by in many years to come? Sean: You know, it’s all really the same. The first album’s considered to be a classic, which is an honour. If it’s considered to be a staple in hardcore then that’s an honour as well, but we’re just writing heavy records and trying to put out the heaviest records possible, so if you love ‘Satisfaction’ then great and if you love ‘Rise of Brutality’ and you think that’s the way we should go then that’s fine, but we’re not trying to determine any direction. We’re just writing brutally heavy records and putting them out and hoping that everybody loves them. Teamer: What are your impressions of the UK hardcore scene, having shared the same bill with hard-working bands such as Knuckledust? Sean: It’s awesome, without a doubt! I’m going to be honest with you, I’m on the road so much I can’t keep track of too much stuff and I’m getting old too (laughter). Every band we’ve played with over here has been great. Teamer: How does it feel to have played very intimate shows for many years to then be an addition to huge festivals and arenas across the world? Sean: You know what, it’s all the same to us. Obviously when we play an arena like this it’s a little overwhelming when you notice there are thousands of people out there! To us, we put the same amount of energy and passion playing a show for 20 kids as we do 20,000 kids so to us as long as it’s a Hatebreed show we’ll give them the best show possible. We’ll play a basement, we’ll play a hall, we’ll play an arena – we’ll play whatever you’ve got. All of it’s great. more to come…

“It’s shortly before 6pm, and things are getting rowdy in Hammersmith. As the never-ending stream of maggots and seasoned metalheads alike grows longer still, the missiles begin to fly, and the impatient forward surges begin. Already this is clearly going to be one hell of an evening. Lead act Mastodon are clearly insane geniuses as they serve up a simply staggering yet criminally short 20 minute set, before Hardcore champs Hatebreed whip the eager crowd into a suitable and circular-motioned frenzy. However, neither act could prepare the thousands of attendees for what was about to follow: Slayer are quite possibly the most important and perhaps even greatest metal band that has ever existed. Judging from the seemingly endless chants of í¢ä‰åñSlayerí¢ä‰åŒ and the deafening roar that greets their arrival, many would seem to agree. Any doubters are surely silenced when songs like ‘Disciple’ and ‘Dead Skin Mask’ turn the floor into a sea of relentless neck-thrusting aggression, meaning you can do little more than follow suit safe in the knowledge that on this occasion, you’ve simply been overpowered. Slipknot aren’t exactly slouches either, particularly where overwhelming energy and generally crushing brutality are concerned. Despite the absence of Samples man Craig Jones, the band promptly set about tearing down the very rafters of this historic theatre. Tracks such as ‘(sic)’ and ‘Eyeless’ are performed with the ferocity that few other modern day acts could possibly deliver, just as forthcoming single ‘Vermilion’ displays a band that can be darker and more sinister than you could have ever anticipated. If you were in attendance – you’ll understand just how breathtaking the evening was on occasion. If you weren’t í¢ä‰åäóì shame on you.” 8/10 Ryan Bird www.musicstuff.co.uk

Friday 15th October 7 – 9pm GMT (2-4pm EST): Extreme Radio’s Nigel interviews Jim Root, #4, of SLIPKNOT & Jamey Jasta of HATEBREED from the Unholy Alliance tour… Don’t miss it! The show will be repeated on Sunday 1 hour earlier than advertised on Friday. Listen to the show online at: Extreme Radio.

Wow…over 10 months ago, Trivium shot a video for a track of their’s called “Like Light To The Flies.” All good things come in due time, this video is point in case – you can check it out in our VIDEO section now. Speaking of the video, it’s bottled lightning. It’s another storm coming from down south. Plus, it contains over 1.5 minutes of straight riff/solos somewhere in the middle of the piece. Enjoy. In other Trivium news, the band is still in Florida recording their Roadrunner debut, which is slated for an early 2005 release. The drums, both guitar rhythm tracks and bass tracks are complete. Next up, solos (again, we ask you to see above video) and vocals/screams. In other news, the band is playing four US dates with Fear Factory in November.

While chatting in the office, we just learnt about what has to be THE most metal Black Cab in London. Bernie Rose spends his days taking people where they want to go around London in his licensed black cab. Bernie has a daughter, who happens to like Slipknot. Having told her off for playing their CD around the house, or telling her to turn it down, one day Bernie got the parental duty of picking up his daughter from a Slipknot gig she was attending. Upon actually seeing Slipknot play, Bernie was completely converted. So much so he has since swiped his daughter’s Slipknot CDs, and now drives around London, playing Slipknot in his black cab for his, perhaps surprised, customers. Bernie, we salute you!

Did you listen to the Radio 1 Rock Show late Tues night? If you did you’ll have heard the following choice RR tracks: – Hatebreed ‘Live For This’ – Eighteen Visions ‘Waiting For The Heavens’ – Slipknot ‘Duality’ – Soulfly ‘Bleed’ – Slipknot ‘Vermilion í¢ä‰åäóì Part 2’ And…36 Crazyfists ‘Bloodwork’ + a very cool feature about ‘Kungí¢ä‰åäóìFu Moves For Killing The Band Guys’ feature! We thought it sounded f*ckin’ awesome and it featured about 30í¢ä‰åäóì60 seconds of lots of album tracks with the interview lasting about 10í¢ä‰åäóì15 mins! Really worth checking out if you missed it… you can replay it online at the Radio 1 website HERE.

As the Unholy Alliance tour continues to roll through the UK, Adam Curson sends us in this review of the Birmingham show. Thanks Adam! “Holy crap, How can you guys be involved in such hardcore tours? I’ve been to gigs for years and this was by far the best gig i’ve been to this year. I got into the venue ad got to a beer before mastadon, after hearing there new album i wanted to see them and they were impressive. After what seemed like only a few minutes Tear it down started and one of my favourate bands took to the stage. Hatebreed was insane, After seeing these guys live 4 times this was the best pit of there i’ve been a part of. They played loads off Rise of brutality but didn’t dissapoint anyone. The huge circle pit was a bit of a loss (like my front tooth) witch seemed to dissaper in the middle of it all. ALot of the crowd seemed to get into them and i’m sure hatebreed will have some new fans after a blazeing performance. Again after a really quick change over the masters music hit and Slayer took to the stage. An hour and 5 minutes of pure agression and all the classic track thrown in. I was told from the stands at one point there were 6 circle pits going. Words can’t describe how intense these guys are on stage and how everyone should see them at least once! With live tracks like War, Angel of death, South of heaven, Dead skin mask and raining blood in there set list the whole floor was moving. I missed the intro to slipknot as water was vital or i would have passed out. I got into the crowd half way through “the blister exists” They seemed to play alot from there new album and sometracks didn’t seem to go down with the crowd, but withe tracks like (sic) and eyeless sandwitched between them the crowdsurfers were flying across the crowd. The sound of thousands of slipknot fans singing duality was mindblowing! There were mosh pits aplenty during the encore wich consisted of people = shit, wait and bleed and surfacing. After losing my tooth, my hearing and 3/4 of my slayer shirt and gaining a ton of cuts/scratches and bruises i gotta say roadrunner you pulled out the plugs on this tour. how long till roadrage )” Adam Curson

Your reviews from the Unholy Alliance tour are great to read… we’re not sure which show Matt Frewin went to, but it sounds like an awesome time was had (even though you missed some of Hatebreed – shame on you)! Thanks Matt. “After arriving a little late, and missing half of Hatebreed’s set, we soon were rejuvenated by the immense presence of quite possibly the two best bands to ever walk the face of the Earth, Slayer and Slipknot. Whilst almost getting myself killed in a brutal moshpit during Slayer, I decided to get myself crushed to death as soon as Raining Blood began by running as far to the front as I could, leaving my friends oblivious to whether or not I was alive 🙂 I don’t know, just the sight of blood raining all over Slayer as they played an aptly titled track made me get as close as possible for the best effect. Shortly after being almost dismembered in the pit, during the break between Slayer and Slipknot I decided some re-hydration was in order. I found one of my friends and dragged him to the nearest bar for some cool beers. We couldn’t take any more than a step without seeing masses of die-hard fans screaming for what they all love the most. “SLAYER!!”, “SLIPKNOT” echoing around the arena like being in a battlefield. Everyone we talked to on the way were full of adrenaline, all of their pants already filled with poop from the greatness of Slayer. There was more to come… Piling back down towards the stage, we decided maybe we should chill out for Slipknot and stand back to watch their brilliant performance, being musicians and all we wanted to hopefully learn something from them! Unfortunately (well, not really) we soon decided that standing around was no place for us, and immediately charged straight back into the pit. It took us most of Slipknot’s set to get anywhere near the front, the closest being when I got one hand on the front barriers, only to be crushed between hundreds of crazy fans shortly after. Ending with Surfacing, Slipknot really rapped up the night for us, bringing us everything we had wanted from the gig. All in all, I wish I could go to every single date on the Unholy Alliance tour to see two bands that have conquered the Earth, and won’t be going away anytime soon. To play with them would be an honour and a dream, and one day maybe we’ll do it in our band. Until then, watching them play is more than enough to inspire us and millions of others around the world!!”

Another review of the Unholy Alliance show in Glasgow, this one by Richy Muirhead, about Hatebreed & Slipknot. “HATEBREED When Hatebreed came on the place just burst into madness! It was there first time playing in Scotland so they didn’t know what to expect from us. They opened with ‘Tear it down’, it got us all going! Hatebreed are really energetic live, there always moving from one side of the stage. They played a good range of songs from both Perseverance and The Rise Of Brutality. Oh it kicked ass! They played an older song and demanded to see the biggest circle pit, so the Scottish fans got to work and made a badass pit! The song kicked in and it was mayhem. Crowd surfers in every direction! The place was alive! They thanked us for being so kick ass and welcoming them onto the tour and to Scotland. They played there final song.í¢ä‰åŒ_my personal favourite, I Will Be Heard. This just made if for me! At the end Jamey Jasta through me the hornsí¢ä‰åŒ_.hatebreed played a brilliant set! I preferred it from the Donnington one and that was insane! SLIPKNOT The lights dimmed and the ringing of Prelude 3.0 on the PA system started the Slipknot set. Fans grew nervous and started chants throughout this intro. Soon enough the 8 members made the stage and opened with ‘The Blister Exists’ this really got the crowd fired with the build up! I was on the barrier and the crowd surfers just kept coming, more and more! It was crazy! After this they played sic, pulse of the maggots and three nil and everyone was just moshing and going nuts! Slipknot played a really good set. When ‘Vermilion’ came on they all appeared in their death masks. This was quite freaky at first but it was awesome to seeí¢ä‰åŒ_it fits the song so well. Everything they did when playing this song was slowed down. I remember Chris hitting the percussion slowly and gentle. It was weird! Mick was also starting at fans really freakish and still playing the song perfectly on guitar! It was ace! After this they played some older stuff like eyeless, disasterpiece, wait and bleed, heretic anthem, and spit it out. During the break down of ‘Spit it out’ Corey wanted us too all get down on the ground and when he says ‘jump the fuck up’ we all must do that! We all did it, and it was crazy! Everyone just jumped the fuck up! They also played Duality. The crowd was so loud for this one! Shawn was really hitting the drum at the break down with his bat! After this we had ‘Wait and Bleed’ its just a classic! I think everyone in the room appreciated it. Again everyone was being very loud for this one, it was great! They played their last song for usí¢ä‰åŒ_Surfacing. Our International Fuckin Anthem! Everyone, and I mean everyone in the venue had their middle finger in the air for the chorus of this song! It was so loud and perfect! Great song to end of the night with! The set was immense! Some really great songs. I think seeing Vermilion played live made my day, especially being on the barrier. Oh it ruled man! I hope the rest of the shows on this tour go just as well, if notí¢ä‰åŒ_better! All the bands rocked m/ I had a great night! m/” Richy Muirhead

We asked you to send in your reviews of the Unholy Alliance dates…. here is the first posted, from the Glasgow show. Thanks to Chris Robb for writing in. “I saw this show in glasgow! What can i say? If I wanted to kick myself in the testicles for days on end it wouldnt have been as brutal as this!! Mastodon- 20 minute set but this band will be seen raising hell for years upon years! if they had a longer set thye would have literally leveled the SECC! This just went from crushing rift to crushing rift with terrorising vocals. I havent heard much by them but i was very impressed. Hatebreed- When Mastodon announced they would be on i screamed as loud as i could! The guy next to me said take it you like hatebreed too? My answer F**k yeh! Well then its my first gig you better join me in the pit! Well this pit was unbeilevablely insanse! And this was as crazy as i thought it would get!! Bugger me was i wrong! The crushing songs This is Now, Beholder of Justice and Live for This *only songs i can remember because i had such a good time*. They destroyed the SECC. Bodies were everywher and wondering how they could cope with the next 2 bands! Hatebreed left a mark which would have to be met by the next bands to make this a gig to remember!! Slayer- I was dissapointed with this. Just because Slayer are loud as f**k and also fast as f**k dosent make you a great live band. They releaded so much on the lights to try and make it work it just didnt do anything for me. I actually went to the bar during this. BUt it got better as the set ended. apart from God Hates Us All the set seemed dead although everyone was pitting like a CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER and it was their last chance to live! Angel of Death, South of Heaven, Post Mortem and the best live song ever Reign in Blood * being condradictive i know but it is* sent me into a frenzy and the pits grew bigger and bigger. The set seemed to pick up. BUt it still lacked that killer instinct. Slipknot- Without Craig how would the 8 man wrecking machine destroy glasgow? With F**KING EASE! i have never EVER seen a set like this! Prelude 3.0 as an intro. Set the theme of the night. We might have new songs but we still tear every place to fucking pieces! The killer anthems Sic,Eyeless,3 nil, People equal shit all got crazier reactions than all the other bands put TOGETHER. Nothing could quite prepare anyone for Duality though. Corey gave a heartwarming speech about craig (or spikehead as he affectionately called him) and told the crowd to sing loud enough he’ll hear us in america. Well bugger me. I could just hear joey knocking the crap out of the drums. It was insane. Everyone knew word for word and boy did they sing it with power and passion! Spit it out saw the crowd kneel down and jump about 50 feet in the air!! Wait and Bleed set the crowd up for the amazing finish that is the New International FUcking anthem SURFACING! The crowd went even crazier because it was the last song! They walked off to Circle. Best gig ive ever been to. Nothing can touch this for power,passion and all out balls up heavy fucking metal! A gig should be more like this. Stripped back to the bar essantials and let the music do the talking! If you missed this then you missed a life changing moment! You saw the past,present and future of metal! Im glad its in safe hands and ill see great shows for years to come.” Chris Robb