The second album Odyssey: (Un) Dead from American metal outfit The Breathing Process is billed as "Splicing symphonic black metal with brutal death metal, the band further manages to introduce elements of epic ambience and melody unseen by most bands in today's realm of heavy music". Now it's certainly not the bands fault that their latest effort is being touted as somewhat of a groundbreaking album in today's world of metal, and while I can assure you that the material here is far from being anything revolutionary, the band has put together a pretty solid if somewhat unspectacular sophomore effort.
What you get on the first three tracks is pretty much your standard symphonic death metal modus operandi so expect plenty of pulverizing blast beats and punishing guttural vocals, along with rapid fire riffage accompanied with the odd synth passage. By the time the female vocals of Sara Loerlein first enter into the fray on the fourth track "Vulture (s)" the songs start to sound a bit Lacuna Coil-ish which is all right, however after a few tracks the band reverts back to the vibe of the first three songs until "Hordes" begins to shake things up a bit again with its multiple tempo changes and searing riffs. The band finishes on a high note with their final four tracks, with the two part "Forest" composition being the highpoint. It goes to show that when push comes to shove they're more than capable of injecting a little variety into their arrangements. I think that if they had done more of this throughout the course of Odyssey: (Un) Dead it would helped set them apart from the pack somewhat.
As long as you're not expecting anything too earth shattering and you don't mind that the Breathing Process often comes across as a cross between Dimmu Borgir and Lacuna Coil, then chances are you'll probably enjoy the majority of Odyssey: (Un) Dead. If you're looking for a little more though you might want to take a pass on this one.
Track Listing
1) Hours
2) Grimoire
3) Leveller
4) Vulture(s)
5) Pantheon Unraveling
6) Odyssey: (Un) Dead
7) Starless: Eternal
8) Metamorphosis
9) Hordes
10) The Living Forest (Part 1)
11) Wind Ritual
12) The Opaque Forest (Part 2)
13) Decaying Form
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