When I reviewed Black Breath’s last record, Sentenced to Life, I expressed some disappointment with its relative brevity in both individual track lengths and overall run-time. I felt like I didn’t get my full Black Breath Fix. Well, it almost seems like the band read my review, because Black Breath’s latest album, Slaves Beyond Death is a far more long-winded affair. Every track is over five minutes long, totalling up to fifty minutes in running time – the band’s longest album to date by almost ten minutes. Certainly I’ve gotten my fix now, but is it too much of a good thing? Not necessarily.
That Black Breath has shifted gears should come as no surprise, as the band has never made the same album twice: The debut EP was a mish-mash of early eighties extreme metal with some crossover thrown in; then, all of a sudden, they were a Stockholm-styled death metal band with a hardcore singer on Heavy Breathing, their full-length debut. Sentenced to Life kept the Swedish death trappings, but it mixed them with hardcore intensity and economy. In every case, however, Black Breath’s talent has shone through, and Slaves Beyond Death is no different. The group embraces a groovier style of death metal this time around, but, as always, Black Breath brings the riffs.
Despite an ever-shifting style, Black Breath is not what I would call a weird band. Their approach is fairly conventional for whatever type of metal they choose to play, but they do have a habit of throwing in a few curveballs. It is these unexpected quirks that make Black Breath stand out, even beyond generally excellent execution. Opener “Pleasure, Pain, Disease” is ferociously raging death metal brimming with prime riffage, for instance, but it’s the sickly moaning bent notes in the breakdown that really make the track. “Seeds of Cain” is the most intensely thrashing song on the album, with an epically melodic solo section, but it is the circus-theme melody in the intro that sticks with me most. The biggest curveball, however, is closing this savage death metal album with “Chains of the Afterlife”, a sublimely melodic eight minute instrumental.
Though I make much ado of the unconventional bits of Slaves Beyond Death, the conventional bits are fully worthy in their own right. There are grooves so deep on this record you’ll need stitches, and the solos are supremely musical, songs unto themselves to the last. Furthermore, vocalist Neil McAdams has divested his voice of any trace of hardcore, and having done so, he delivers the most malevolent, rotten-sounding, and best performance of his career.
Initially, I thought there was some fat to be trimmed on Slaves Beyond Death, but the more I listen, the more I believe that is not the case. This is a lengthy record, but one packed tightly with sick grooves and savage riffs. It might not be Black Breath’s finest hour, but it’s a damn fine fifty minutes. This whole Swedish death metal revival has gone on far longer than the style’s original heyday, and as a fan, your options are beyond counting at this point. But Black Breath remains head and shoulders above the rabble. Slaves Beyond Death is worth your time and money.
