Black Breath – Heavy Breathing (2010) [Southern Lord] // Grade: B

Discharge, Entombed and early Cave-In. That’s how I’d sum up Black Breath’s newest endeavor, Heavy Breathing. I first heard their 4-track EP Razor to Oblivion not too long ago after Southern Lord signed them. Expecting something completely different, I was pleasantly surprised by the Seattle-band’s approach to old school death and hardcore-infused thrash. I.e. not really Southern Lord’s forte. Heavy Breathing is a nostalgic trip back to your youth. All the bands you grew up listening to with a fresh new edge and face.

The Cave-In reference may be a bit off for most of you, but there’s a reason to bring them up. After learning that Kurt Ballou was behind the production, it’s easy to see where the Boston-hardcore sound came from. Ballou helped bring Converge to the metal megalith that they are today and it’s this one element that really sculpts Heavy Breathing into a solid album. Black Breath’s sound is sharpened by the predominant guitars, something Ballou is known for in his work. That along with the commanding vocals, creates a pretty strong formula for a great sound. It’s not as simple as that though. Since its easy to fuck this formula up, Heavy Breathing maintains a raw feel without going over the top. Something a lot of bands in the genre seem to fall victim to. The end result is either too polished or so compressed that it ruins the experience.

Heavy Breathing won’t let you down though, so don’t fret. Each track pays homage to a crustier day in metal and magnifies the punches. As long as you don’t compare Razor to Oblivion to Heavy Breathing, you’ll be pretty satisfied with this album. While the d-beat and crust influence is still apparent in Heavy Breathing, it has no where near the amount of energy as their first EP. It almost makes you wonder what it would sound like if they had never signed to Southern Lord.

Throughout the album, this precision is very apparent. “Escape From Death” has a killer fucking intro. Fast-paced picking and circle-pit inducing vocals, it’s one tough fight to the front of the crowd! “I Am Beyond” comes across as a gargantuan track, filled with heavy and sludgy modern death metal. From here on out, the album gets fairly obvious. A little Possessed here, a little Nausea there but where’s my thrashy crust of Razor to Oblivion? It’s not until “Children Of The Horn” that you hear the old sound coming through. Again, it’s not a critique as much as it is an observation. “Wewhocannotbenamed” really closes the album with a brutal ending.

From the initial expectations of a band signed to a predominately doom and black metal label, to the brief experience with a 12-minute EP and the exceedingly-ambitious full-length, it’s been a hell of time getting to know this band but what’s next for Black Breath? They’ve got all the ingredients to conquer death metal in the 21st century and make a name for themselves. It’s really going to put the crew over at Southern Lord’s thumbs to the screws. They better watch out or their fan base might actually like this fresh taste of death metal they’ve served up on a silver platter. Is this the first step in a shift for the label? I hope so.

- Prolly