Black Breath: Slaves Beyond Death

Even though this album came out in September 2015, I caught it late and wanted to write up a few lines about it. The band worked with Kurt Ballou at GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts (a beautiful city, not just the place of historical infamy) and the result is terrific. The bound sounds heavy and powerful and the songs deliver a nice range of death metal sounds that blend hardcore, thrash, and old-school moodiness. Things open well with the fast and furious "Pleasure, Pain, and Disease" and slow things down a little (with no loss of heaviness) on "Slaves Beyond Death." Don't worry, things don't stay slow. "Slaves Beyond Death" picks up the pace dramatically and even delivers a blistering guitar lead in the process. As the song titles suggest, the music here is dark and damned, a series of bleak reflections on human behavior. Nathaniel Hawthorne, who also spent significant time in Salem, would find in this band a familiar spirit, one that hopes to make sense of good, evil, and the strange wickedness of the human heart.

For me, the best parts of this album were the twin-guitar attacks on "Seed of Cain" and "Chains of the Afterlife." This is a very good album and one worth a listen. I'm not sure what the status of this band will be for 2016 touring. Last I heard, the guys had to drop out of a scheduled tour. Keep your eyes peeled for future gigs, though. I'm sure they put on a good set.

Track Listing:
1. Pleasure, Pain, Disease
2. Slaves Beyond Death
3. Reaping Flesh
4. Seed of Cain
5. Arc of Violence
6. A Place of Insane Cruelty
7. Burning Hate
8. Chains of the Afterlife

Added: March 19th 2016
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 1354
Language: english

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