BLACK BREATH

In a recent review of BLACK BREATH's "Razor to Oblivion" I stated the following: "God help us all if we get a full-length album's worth of material with the same consistency and unhinged rage as the EP." Well, that full-length album came a lot quicker than I anticipated and assistance from the lord is indeed a necessity because the material heard on "Heavy Breathing" does actually arrive with the same consistency and unhinged rage as the EP, as well as better overall songwriting and some stylistic stretching of their crusty d-beaten-hardcore-crossed-with-MOTÖRHEAD style into areas of old-school Swedish death metal (ala NIHILIST/ENTOMBED by way of TRAP THEM). All of that translates into one of the heaviest, vulgarly powerful, and impossible to forget albums of 2010.

Before you even begin to consider the fact that BLACK BREATH did a masterful job of writing and arranging each of these 10 tracks, the overwhelming force of that sound cracks you upside the noggin. The tone, jagged edges, the organic/live delivery, and what amounts to the sonic equivalent of busted up cinder blocks and steel shards, can be attributable in a big way to Kurt Ballou's (CONVERGE) recording at Godcity Studios. After all, the guy knows a thing or two about recording this kind of band, having previously worked with TRAP THEM and DISFEAR. I mean, come on, what better experience, right? Not that BLACK BREATH needed pointers on the best way to bring violence into your living room, but Ballou sure as hell guaranteed that the shots fired would be lethal.

So let me lay it all out for you in the least convoluted way I know. "Heavy Breathing" is one hardass son of a bitch of an album and these songs are guaranteed to leave you with a sore ass from all the kicking. It is loaded for bear and the fierceness of it cannot be contained with human methods. As soon as "Black Sin (Spit on the Cross)" kicks down the door, all hell breaks loose; this track one of several that moves from furiously paced to bad-ass, holy shittin' buzz groove. Given the way those lyrics are spat out in such a vitriolic manner, a secondary translation on any track could just as well be "Get the fuck out of the way!" Several songs, such as "Eat the Witch", "Escape from Death", and the excellent "Children of the Horn" and "Fallen" come at you in battalion strength and leave you wondering how they got POISON IDEA, MOTÖRHEAD, and DISMEMBER in the same room together for the recording sessions. And every time a cut like "Virus" shifts from crust punk speed punch to crackling mid-paced groove, the sensation is always the same; a sharp tingle that runs up and down your now fissured spine. As if that weren't enough, a steady bass line and back beat opens "Unholy Virgin", ultimately revealing it to be some kind of bastardized version of an already roughed up blues jam from a previously undiscovered NIHILST session, complete with blues croons replaced with nihilistic barks. After what amounts to repeatedly punching myself in the face with this album, I've come to the conclusion that the saying "violence never solved anything" is just not true.

I'll spare you the whole "you can't teach this kind of performance savagery" thing, even though it is friggin' true about "Heavy Breathing". The bottom line is that album will scare the oversized pants right off of your average faux-core wannabe thug. It is a guarantee that, if necessary to seal the deal, you may request be written in blood on parchment paper. Believe it. Buy it.