Band:	Clawfinger
Album:	Hate Yourself With Style
Style:	Alternative metal, Nu metal
Release date:	2005
A review by:	jupitreas

01. The Faggot In You
02. Hate Yourself With Style
03. Dirty Lies
04. The Best & The Worst
05. Breakout (Embrace The Child Inside You)
06. Right To Rape
07. What We've Got Is What You're Getting
08. Sick Of Myself
09. Hypocrite
10. Without A Case
11. God Is Dead

The brand of rap-influenced angular alternative metal that Clawfinger has been churning out since their innovative debut in 1993 has by now become all too overplayed and tedious. The Swedes seem to be aware of this and to avoid stagnation, on Hate Yourself With Style they spice up their standard style with elements of hardcore punk and thrash metal. A commendable attempt for sure; however, the band wasn't really able to incorporate these new elements in any particularly successful or memorable way, which makes this album a disappointment in the long run.

With all this said, there are a few instances on this album that Clawfinger are able to hit the nail right on the head. Especially impressive are the outright thrashy tracks such as "Breakout (Embrace The Child Inside You)", "Hypocrite" and the title track. When all is said and done, Zak Tell's throaty quasi-rap vocals fit an aggressive thrash style perfectly, creating music that is very rhythmical and thus quite successful. Sadly, the rest of the tracks suffer from an all-too-familiar nu-metal stop-go composing style and from lyrics that while containing quite a positive message, are excessively simplistic and obvious. This has long been the band's principle problem though, so I guess longtime fans wont mind this particular criticism.

Hate Yourself With Style is an album created with good intentions and a will to redefine Clawfinger's musical identity. Unfortunately, the band has to a large extent failed to deliver the goods this time.