Originally written by Erik Thomas
So, I sorta dug this band’s 2007 second album, Beyond the Permafrost, but also considered them the slightly more black metal influenced baby brother of 3 Inches of Blood with their take on old school-y ness mixed with modern thrash and traditional heavy metal and epic beards abound (beardcore?). However, the follow-up, much like the debut, suffers from the same levels of same-y-ness in that while an enjoyable slab of modern meets old school metal, nothing truly leaps out at me and makes me take notice.
In fact, as I sit here listening to the album for about the 8th time in a row, when decent closer “…And into the Flame” ends rather abruptly, I’m still trying to recall any moments from the previous 11 numbers that made any sort of impression on me….and I can’t. That’s not to say Breathing the Fireisn’t a good album – it’s not terrible, essentially being 3 Inches of Bloodwithout the falsetto wails of Cameron Pipes (down to the Jack Endino production), but with 12 short direct songs of black metal infused thrash and a modern take of traditional heavy metal thrown in. I expect a little more from a band supposedly on the cusp of stardom.
Heck, it’s not until the forth track “Released from the Catacombs” and “Stand, Fight and Die” where my ears even mildly perk up at a riff and the band’s slight injections of Immortal-ish steady black metal melody (which also arise in “Unseen Hands”) clash with bay area thrash. But otherwise, for the proceeding three tracks and subsequent six tracks there’s little on the album that cries out for attention other than an energetic and well played visage of slightly processed metal that wants to be pure old school homage but is obviously going for style points with the suddenly retro kids
I know this band is one of the more popular bands right now, but frankly, 3 Inches of Blood’s recent effort simply blows this away, but that’s more of a testament to how good 3 Inches of Blood are rather than how goodSkeletonwitch are. That being said, Skeletonwitch are solid, but they have a little ways to go to truly impress me as their peers have.
