Black Breath- Slaves Beyond Death (2015)

Black Breath- Slaves Beyond Death (2015)

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”

Edgar Allan Poe

By: Ghost Writer

Featuring a powerful sound clearly indebted to the Swedish old school of death metal, with bands such as Entombed or Dismember as its main influences, Black Breath has become the keeper of the holy grail of Scandinavian metal, having mastered the Swedish buzz saw guitars and cavernous hardcore growl the band is mentally and physically apt to carry the mantle for the future.

Slaves Beyond Death is an extraordinary ferocious recording showcases band extreme metal mighty approach, as the creates a blinding swagger close to the so called Death and Roll and the vicious Slayer's onslaught, listening to brutal opener Pleasure, Pain, Disease is quick and effective introduction to what this rabid band is all about, ever flowing stream of guitar riffs giving the band astonishing dynamics a perfectly solid rhythm section that moves without hesitation and a sick and deranged vocalist that barks with maniac intensity.

But before you start thinking that this is a band just for speed freaks, give a listen to the painfully slow title track, with its ultra-low bottomed intricate rhythms and flesh ripping crazy guitars, keeping the monstrous slow grinding routine, Reaping Flesh is another highlight, with the band displaying both, its instrumental progress and it's maniac blast beat's endurance, undeniable signs of an impressive musical maturity acquires with time slowing them to let songs breath and swell, or like in the intro to Seed of Cain to give a radical turn on their sonic approach, just as the slow building Arc of Violence, again showing that the band is not afraid of trying new things.

Again with the famed Kurt Ballou on the mixing board this "Seattle band" who don't play grunge, and who aside from Metal Church, Queensryche or Sunn O))) are making Seattle interesting again, are able to bring another masterpiece of ruthless music like few we have heard in recent times, showing a band that firmly present themselves as a bright contender as one of the most consistent acts, as Ballou and the band have built enough confidence to embrace innovation and refusing stagnation as songs like A Place of Insane Cruelty are clear signs of this.

It's hard to foresee the future of this band, although Chains of the Afterlife could be the direction for the band to take, a more polished and more melodic music approach, Who knows? Even Entombed got messed up after a couple of Death n Roll records, hope Black Breath works better this transition.

Slaves Beyond Death is a sonic triumph, but the band sounds so accomplished and so eager to try new things, that it is becoming kind of risky, to a point where it could all fall apart.