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

William Control William Control is an American 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' therefore re ...

. 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 Thu ...

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, Soundgarden, Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab for Cut ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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 music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' 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 media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

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. Originally from Pahrump, Nevada, the group currently consists of lead vocalist Craig Mabbitt, guitarists Matti Hoffman, Erik Jensen and drummer Robert Ortiz. Ortiz ...

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 the guitarist and backing vocalist of the nu metal band Limp Bizkit, the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative and industrial rock band Black Light Burn ...

and Renholdër 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 – photography * Shannie Xavier Yngvason – additional backing vocals

References

{{Authority control 2008 debut albums William Control albums Victory Records albums 2000s concept albums Albums recorded at Robert Lang Studios