Seattle’s five-piece Black/Thrash Metal band Black Breath has recently announced their first European tour since forming in 2005. Their rush onto the international scene has a lot to do with the outstanding success of their 2008 EP Razor to Oblivion, which alternated between sounding like1990’s-era early black metal (alla Bathory) and, sporadically, punk—especially in its drumming. The brief four-track effort highlighted genuine metal fervor and grit (in a genre that lives by authenticity), while also granting melodic and rhythmic accessibility.
Song progression seems to display the most novel and insightful attributes of Black Breath. Changes in time signature– from stripped breakdowns, to unresolved hooks, to soaring resolutions– stand out as features of notable investment. However it is not that each movement in tempo is creatively genius; it is the cumulative applications that are not only comfortably logical, yet also boldly affirmative.
Black Breath doesn’t seem to ‘resort’ to breakdowns; rather the progression of a song facilitates that one should occur when it does. At the same time they do not fall into the common trap of appearing afraid that a breakdown may sound generic, which typically results in some little, corny splash use. This is especially evident in the song ‘Fatal Error,’ where they bluntly grind through a classy breakdown, which is composed and placed well enough that gimmicks are unneeded.
While I would be most tempted to call this band Thrash metal, doing so would be highly unrepresentative. Probably the aspect of Black Breath that is initially most notable is the apparition of punk influences, strongly brandished by their vocalist Nate McAdams. It, however, does not sound as if punk is an incorporated element; rather it acts as a fundamental building block of the band.
Their sole LP, Heavy Breathing (which was released earlier this year), takes up the trend set by Razor to Oblivion and matures the sound by experimenting with occasional, cleaner melodies and an infusion of hard rock. A Black Metal motif becomes more prevalent in Heavy Breathing with a slightly more abundant use of riding guitars in instances of both grind and melody. The drumming is somewhat more dramatic, setting up climatic moments with patient pacing instead of diving straight into a hook.
No matter which album or track may be up for inspection, Black Breath does not (seemingly will not) hold back any punches. Their use of punk and hard rock compliment their Scandinavian metal framework into a brutal version of Metalcore. In many ways it pays homage to the earlier days of metal, where the goal was to blow out not just the windows, but the walls, the roof, the neighbors’ roof, and to shrivel the pavement in between.
Black Breath’s EP and LP can be purchased here, while their upcoming concert dates and song previews can be seen here.
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