Black Breath

Fuming Mouth – Last Day of Sun Review

By Dear Hollow on November 7, 2023 in Reviews, Crust Punk, Death Metal, Hardcore, 16 comments

“A concept album is risky when you’re as meatheaded as Massachusetts’ Fuming Mouth. Don’t get me wrong, Last Day of Sun’s concept is unique and powerful, an apocalyptic vision of a world destined for darkness in twenty-four hours (hence the title) – a story further fueled by the act’s mastermind, vocalist, and guitarist Mark Whelan’s triumphant battle over cancer. For an act that has rarely been called the “thinking man’s” anything, it’s pretty high-brow to fuse an approach of death metal and hardcore with such heart-wrenching emotion.” Sun’s out, HM-2 out.

Colony Drop – Brace for Impact Review

By Felagund on September 4, 2023 in Reviews, Thrash Metal, 32 comments

“According to Colony Drop’s Bandcamp page, the band’s motto is “High Speed, Twin Lead.” This isn’t just a promise that gets my heart all aflutter; it’s also an honest declaration. Time and time again, you’ll hear this maxim take mighty musical form on Brace for Impact, often to crushing effect.” Space must be colonized!

All Out War – Celestial Rot Review

By Dear Hollow on February 10, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Metalcore, 17 comments

“One thing I discover in the promo sump every now and then is the longevity of random bands I’ve never heard of. While many one-man black metal projects working out of their respective mom’s basements rear corpse-painted faces, I certainly did not expect a metalcore band to fall into this category. It is a bit of a coincidence to me that Newburgh, New York veterans All Out War comes on the heels of my last 2022 TYMHM, Geneva’s Nostromo, because all the hallmarks are there.” Eternal war (core).

Defy the Curse – Horrors of Human Sacrifice Review

By Holdeneye on January 13, 2023 in Reviews, Crust Punk, Death Metal, 38 comments

“Hailing from the Netherlands, Defy the Curse do indeed play a mashup of death metal and hardcore, but they are in no way a stereotypical metalcore or deathcore outfit. This metal/core hybrid sounds like the rumbling Entombed-meets-Discharge style of a band like Black Breath.” Defy the d-beat.

Blasted Heath – Vela Review

By Ferox on August 17, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, 16 comments

“All is not well at the edge of the cosmos. Some of us look to the heavens and see a frontier, a blank page for all mankind to fill with the best of ourselves. Others, like the black thrash cosmonauts of Blasted Heath, can only widen their eyes in horror at the vast and indifferent expanse. This foursome may hail from Indianapolis, but their first transmission Vela sounds like a broadcast from a far corner of the galaxy. The message? No one is living long or prospering out here, the ship’s AI is starting to get cheeky, and we’ve lost contact with the colonists on LV-426.” Space madness.

Teethgrinder – Dystopia Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on July 31, 2022 in Reviews, Hardcore, 10 comments

“Whether in the presence of a low or high grind tide, the quest for more persists. It’s no secret that quite a few of us in the office are sickos looking for a cheap, direct-to-vein thrill. Why just the other day our own El Cuervo was at the water cooler pining for the muddy-muzzled lashing of Ass to Mouth. And who could blame him? Their 2014 outing had a unique charm of blended political samples and rough-tongued tirades against the traditional pummel and pierce of high ethanol grind. Teethgrinder understands this hunger.” Molarity ensued.

Burning Tongue – Prisoner’s Cinema Review

By Dear Hollow on November 1, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, 7 comments

“Burning Tongue is a quartet from New York, citing bands like Trap Them, His Hero is Gone, Bathory, and Celtic Frost as influences. Debut full-length Prisoner’s Cinema is their first release in eight years, since EP Blackest. At heart a hardcore punk band, these New Yorkers spew nihilistic sermons with fervor and intensity, dragging in influences of grind and death metal for a foray whose comparison feels a tad like a more hardcore-influenced Nails or Great American Ghost minus the deathcore.” Criminal entertainment.

The Plague – Within Death Review

By Holdeneye on May 6, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Hardcore, 28 comments

“I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve been spinning Black Breath’s Sentenced to Life a lot recently. Maybe it was the epic face-kicking that I received from the recent Enforced release, but something made me seek out even more crossover bludgeonry by which to flagellate myself. Sentenced to Life saw the Seattle band blending crossover thrash with the rumbling HM-2 Swedish death metal of Entombed and Dismember, and the results were pretty glorious, earning the coveted 5.0 from my predecessor in unbridled optimism, Happy Metal Guy himself. Well, between this preparation and my recent Entombed kick following the passing of L.G. Petrov, I was primed to reach for the next buzzsaw promo I found. It sounds distasteful to say at a time like this, but bring on The Plague!” Get down with it.

Estuarine – Nyarlathotep Review

By Dear Hollow on March 19, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Grind, Technical Death Metal, 18 comments

“I’m not sure why we have a general rule against EP’s, but I imagine that it has something to do with the brevity of the content. We don’t get a good representation of the artist if we’re only given a few songs to work with, while full-lengths are intended as cohesive works and can showcase the effectiveness of an artist to create them. Grind, however, throws a big ol’ middle finger at this in favor of beatdown explosions that sneer in the face of subtlety with the dumbest grin possible. A grind full-length can be anywhere between fifteen and thirty minutes, and even then, Estuarine’s ten minutes is challenging brevity.” One-man grind to kick some behind.

Enforced – Kill Grid Review

By Holdeneye on March 12, 2021 in Reviews, Hardcore, Thrash Metal, 92 comments

“Oh man, have I been excited to get my hands on this one. In 2019, I happened upon the promo for At the Walls, the debut record from Richmond, Virginia crossover thrash act Enforced. The album was a combination of previously-released demo and EP tracks with some newer material, and while this may have resulted in some minor consistency issues, that thing riffed hard, riffed often, and barely missed my 2019 year-end list. The thought of a follow-up record written in one, cohesive go was tantalizing, and my excitement only grew when I heard that Enforced was picked up by Century Media last year. But at the same time, when a raw, passionate band moves to a bigger label, I always get a bit nervous.” Dying on the grid.