Co-founded by Colin Young of Twitching Tongues and vocalist/Ring Of Honor professional wrestler Brody King, God’s Hate set out to re-establish the mantle of hardness created by East Coast HC titans Merauder, Hatebreed, and the seminal Troy-core scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s.
“My biggest pet peeve in hard music is when a band is afraid to go all the way musically,” Colin says. “Don’t be a hard band with no hard parts. And you gotta ask yourself why before writing every single song: Why does this song exist? What am I trying to say and what am I trying to do? If it doesn’t evoke some kind of emotion, what’s the point?”
God’s Hate answered that question with a fist to the throat on the Divine Injustice and Father Inferior seven-inches in 2014 and 2015, respectively, before sawing off their full-length debut, Mass Murder, in 2016. Railing against religion, the government, and airing their grievances against the stupidity of mankind, they employed the strong-arm musical tactics of their forefathers: Beatdown riffs, slamming breakdowns, gang vocals and no bullshit whatsoever.
Fast-forward to right about now, and it’s been five years since the last God’s Hate album. During that time, Colin has been touring on and off with Twitching Tongues and King’s pro wrestling career has taken off. There have been births, deaths, and major life changes. Factor in the COVID-19 pandemic, and maybe the delay doesn’t seem quite so long.
“Some bands write a record every year, which is crazy,” Colin observes. “Other bands write albums with 12 or 13 songs, but you can tell they put everything into five or six of those songs. My goal was to write an album full of songs that could be my favorite song. And yeah—this would’ve been out a lot sooner had COVID not happened, but I’m sure that’s the story for every band on the planet right now.”
Which brings us to God’s Hate, the band’s new self-titled album. Tracked at The Pit in Van Nuys, CA, by Colin’s brother Taylor Young (Twitching Tongues, ZOUS) between August 2019 and the summer of 2020, the record marks a significant lineup shift for God’s Hate. This time, Colin, King, and guitarist Anthonie Gonzalez are joined by Twitching Tongues bassist Alec Faber, Taylor Young on lead guitar, and third guitarist Martin Stewart. As if that weren’t enough, Colin moved over to drums.
In the end, God’s Hate is everything the band wanted it to be. “God’s Hate was a band born out of friendship and pure love for hardcore music and the desire to provide what we wanted to hear and felt was missing: Unapologetically hard music that holds nothing back musically or lyrically,” Colin says. “There’s absolutely no room for bullshit, especially in the world we live in now. This record was straight-up therapy for us, and I hope it inspires some people to do the same thing: Create painful, hateful music out of love.”
