''Hate Culture'' is the debut studio album by

William Control William Control is an American electronic music project founded in 2008 in Seattle, Washington. It was the side project of Aiden's William Francis before Aiden's hiatus, and he later operated as William Control full-time. 'William Control' th ...

. It was released on October 28, 2008 through independent label

Victory Records Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including Thur ...

Recording and composition

The album was written, produced and engineered by William Control. It was mixed by Justin Armstrong and William Control at

Robert Lang Studios Robert Lang Studios is a recording studio in Shoreline, Washington, United States. Numerous bands have recorded at Robert Lang Studios since 1974 including Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, The Blood Brothers, Candlebox, and Bush. In l ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in July 2008. The album is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

that follows a man named William Control on the last day before he kills himself. Speaking to ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' in 2009, Francis said:

That came out of some serious desperation and hopelessness. Being on the road for five years had worn me down. I’d literally been home for three months in those five years and there were internal problems within Aiden that, coupled with some things that were going in my personal life, meant I snapped and had a breakdown. I went home and wrote some songs that didn’t really fit Aiden. We’re a punk rock band who like horror films…and those were more electronic and dark. I showed them to the label and they liked them so I put together William Control as a solo project and that album came together pretty quickly as a therapeutic outlet.

Release

The single "Beautiful Loser" was released on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

on September 30, 2008. On November 4, a music video directed by Kevin McVey was released. In February and March 2009, the band supported

Escape the Fate Escape the Fate is an American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 and originally from Pahrump, Nevada. They are signed to Eleven Seven Music. The group consists of Robert Ortiz (drummer), Craig Mabbitt (lead vocalist), TJ Bell (rhy ...

on their headlining tour in the U.S.

Track listing

;Notes * ''Prologue'' is from the opening monologue ''The Libertine'', by

Stephen Jeffreys John Stephen Gerrard Jeffreys (22 April 1950 – 17 September 2018) was a British playwright and playwriting teacher. He wrote original plays, films and play adaptations and also worked as translator. Jeffreys is best known for his play ''The Libe ...

. * A track from the album sessions, ''Deathclub'', was remixed by

Wes Borland Wesley Louden Borland (born February 7, 1975) is an American rock musician. He is best known as the current guitarist and backing vocalist of the rap metal band Limp Bizkit, the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative and industrial rock ...

and

Renholdër Daniel Patrick “Danny” Lohner, frequently known as Renholdër, is an American musician. He worked with Trent Reznor on numerous occasions, both with Nine Inch Nails and on the now defunct Tapeworm project. He has also played for Methods of M ...

and included on the '' Underworld: Rise of the Lycans: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''.

Personnel

All credits adapted from liner notes. * Justin Armstrong – mixing * Brit Asema – additional backing vocals * Juliana Bricknell – voice * William Control – producer, engineer, mixing * DoubleJ – artwork, layout * Kenneth Fletcher – assistant engineer * Jake Gravbot – styling *

Lisa Johnson Lisa Johnson is a rock photographer known for her work with bands such as Reel Big Fish, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine and Smashing Pumpkins. In 2014, "Decades: Warped Since 1995-Through The Lens of Lisa Johnson Rock Photographer" was display ...

– photography * Shannie Xavier Yngvason – additional backing vocals

References

{{Authority control 2008 debut albums William Control albums Victory Records albums Concept albums Albums recorded at Robert Lang Studios