By Matt Hinch
From the Canadian Mecca of metal, Montreal, comes upstart antagonists of aggression BornBroken and their debut The Healing Powers of Hate. From the opening moments of lead track “Can’t Quiet the Riot” it’s obvious these boys aim to take their hybrid of groove metal and metalcore and jam it right down your throat. Drawing heavily from the likes of Pantera and Lamb of God, the first meal of the day is a pit-ready anthem. Working off catchy as fuck, breakdown inflected riffs BornBroken mercilessly pound the listener to pulp. There is absolutely no doubt people leave a BornBroken show with injuries.
At various times throughout the album samples, sound effects and spoken word passages halt the momentum but the quintet wastes no time getting back to full speed. No slow build ups here. Just hammer down and go. The vocal attack is all bad cop. Much like Randy Blythe but with more hardcore bravado. There’s more than a fair share of cursing as well but with the overall tough guy feel of the album one shouldn’t expect anything else.
In addition to the aforementioned groove of Pantera and LoG, BornBroken mix in a healthy dose of the kind of breakdown heavy riffing that made Hatebreed famous and more Killswitch Engage style metalcore than you can shake your fist at. “Anger of the Day” even sounds like they were listening to plenty of Roots-era Sepultura. The Healing Powers of Hate carries the kind of violent overtones that make you want to cause pain, especially the body slam bass drops.
If none of the bands mentioned above tickle your fancy then it’s doubtful BornBroken will either, even if they don’t sound like they’re simply aping their influences. This style of metal generally appeals to the more mainstream of metalheads. That being said, it’ll still get your body moving. They’re not breaking down any walls other than those in their rehearsal space or your local venue. So if you’re looking for something to get you amped at the gym or some such physical activity, BornBroken should do the trick. The Healing Powers of Hate seethes with that kind of adrenaline boosting capacity. And there’s always a market for that.
A solid debut from a band already going through lineup changes (vocalist Jesus Salazar out, Matt Baile in). It’ll be interesting to see where the band goes next.
(Independent)
