Hatebreed singer and primary songwriter Jamey Jasta seemed to have things going his way as the group released its second and third CDs, 2002’s Perseverance and 2003’s The Rise of Brutality.

Prior to Perseverance, the band survived a nasty split with its previous record label, Victory Records. After signing with Universal Records, the band made The Rise of Brutality and saw the CD become easily the group’s most popular album.

But as promising as things looked for Hatebreed, Jasta was sinking into a depression that threatened to sidetrack the band. He based many of the lyrics on the band’s latest CD, Supremacy, on his experiences over the past two and a half years. 

For Jasta, his life started to fall into disarray after the death of Hatebreed’s manager, Steve Richards, from a brain tumor in March 2004.

Jasta exacerbated his growing depression by drinking, and it began to hurt his performances on tour.

Fortunately, he stopped his downward spiral before it was too late.

“Mainly it came around Halloween time,” he says. “It was the first time I was actually really home for the holidays and got to take my kid trick-or-treating. I really luckily took a harsh look at myself and said all right, I’m on a bad path … I just wanted to make sure I was around for my kid and for my friends and my family.”

He hopes the songs on Supremacy help others in crisis.

“I want people to know I feel like music has been more than entertainment for me,” he says. “It’s been a part of my life that’s very healing in a way, where music has been my escape or my release of all of these negative feelings.”