UMUR "Slaves Beyond Death" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, Seattle, Washington based death metal act Black Breath. The album was released through Southern Lord Recordings in September 2015. Black Breath was founded in 2006 and released their debut full-length studio album "Heavy Breathing" in 2010. On both that release and on their sophomore album "Sentenced to Life (2012)", Black Breath played a hybrid death/thrash/crust style with strong leanings towards especially old school Swedish death metal but still with strong hardcore/crust elements. Something has happened in the three years between albums though, as "Slaves Beyond Death" is a bit different sounding to the two predecessors.

Stylistically the music on "Slaves Beyond Death" is old school Swedish influenced death metal to the bone. The thrash and hardcore/crust influences of the two predecessors are completely gone (save for the occasional D-beat section, which isn´t unusual for old school Swedish death metal anyway), and while you can still hear that it´s Black Breath playing, they have changed their core style quite a bit. There´s been one lineup change since "Sentenced to Life (2012)" as guitarist Zack Muljat has been replaced by Mark Palm. I´m not sure if that change has meant anything to the musical style change, but it´s obvious it´s a conscious decision to get rid of the thrash and hardcore/crust influences.

And what a positive decision that turns out to be. Black Breath were great on their previous releases (including the 2008 "Razor to Oblivion" EP), but this time they are absolutely on fire. They may not play a style of music that is particularly original, but they manage to put their own spin on it, and their songwriting is generally of a high class. They understand the importance of catchiness, of creating memorable riffs, and what a good intro to a song means, but also the importance of an album´s overall flow, and those features are some of things which make "Slaves Beyond Death" a very special release. There´s brutality and aggression in the music, but there´s also just the right amount of melody and morbid atmosphere to balance them out and make the album a varied listen. The rhythms are also relatively varied throughout the album, which is another thing that ensures diversity.

The musicianship is on a high level throughout the album. Great tight yet organic playing, brutal yet intelligible aggressive growling vocals, and some really well played guitar solos and lead themes. The latter is especially present in the 7:47 minutes long instrumental closer "Chains of the Afterlife", which proves to be an absolutely brilliant way of ending the album. It´s not that the rest of the album features loads of solos or lead themes, but when they appear they always make a positive difference on the music. It never comes off as too accessible, so the brutality factor, or if you will old school death metal credibility, remains high throughout.

"Slaves Beyond Death" features a raw and powerful sound production, which brings out the best in the music. The guitar tone is unmistakably the sound of Sunlight Studios, and because of it I´m often reminded of early Dismember, while listening to the album. Upon conclusion "Slaves Beyond Death" is to my ears an absolutely brilliant old school styled death metal album. Black Breath has brought together all the essential elements of the genre and combined them in a most effectful way, which should leave fans of the genre headbanging and growling along (yes some of the choruses are that catchy) for years to come. A 5 star (100%) rating is fully deserved.