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 There´s been one lineup change since "Sentenced to Life (2012)" as guitarist Zack Muljat has been replaced by Mark Palm.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.

Warthur Black Breath's sweaty, Black Flag-inspired blackened death 'n' roll crust punk thrash metal horror show sound got its start here, and whilst I think it came together a bit better on Sentenced to Life I find Heavy Breathing to be a reasonably credible debut for the group. This time around I think the hardcore punk influences are somewhat moree overt - though subtlety really isn't one of Black Breath's strong points, I think the balance of the album is more towards their punk side whereas the successor drew out their metal side a little more, and where metal does intrude here it isn't quite as smoothly integrated as it is on the successor. The end result is crusty and dirty as hell and is a lot of fin with it, and is definitely worth a try unless you really don't like hyper-aggression in your music, but I'd still say Sentenced to Life should be your first port of call.

UMUR "Sentenced to Life" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US thrash/death/crust act Black Breath. The album was released through Southern Lord Recordings in March 2012. The group created quite a stir with "Heavy Breathing (2010)" and with "Sentenced to Life" they are now ready to deliver another album loaded with aggressive tunes.

The music on "Sentenced to Life" is a hybrid of thrash, death and crust/hardcore. As such there´s little new under the sun compared to "Heavy Breathing (2010)", but it´s obvious the band have honed their songwriting craft and musicianship and that the tracks on "Sentenced to Life" are even more effectful and memorable than were the case on the debut. From the opening notes of "Feast of the Damned" to the closing notes of "Obey" you are attacked by brutal buzzing guitar riffs in the old school Swedish "Sunlight" death metal style and sound, hardcore punked drumming and a raw and shouting "hardcore" type vocalist spitting out caustic aggression. Add a bit of early Slayer influence to the mix and you pretty much have the sound of Black Breath. The music on the album is generally very energetic and head bang inducing too and with a total playing time of 32:42 "Sentenced to Life" is the kind of album that´s almost over before you notice it. No fillers here.

The band are very well playing and the sound production is raw and powerful. Something that suits the music perfectly. Upon conclusion "Sentenced to Life" is simply a high quality energetic extreme metal album that´ll leave you bleeding in the gutter. While that may not sound very pleasant, I´ll take the beating and enjoy it. A 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is deserved.

Warthur On Sentenced to Life Black Breath play a variety of blackened thrash metal which is skewed much more towards the thrash end of things, with black metal and other extreme metal influences sprinkled on for flavour, plus the occasional nod to hardcore punk in the vein of early Black Flag. Indeed, the cover art rather reminds me of a mashup of the cover concepts of Black Flag's Damaged and Metallica's Kill 'Em All, and certainly the album ably competes with both of those for sheer unrestrained anger and aggression. Imagine if Reign In Blood-era Slayer got in a car accident with very early Mayhem, and the mad paramedics from the punk rock hospital put the body parts together randomly. Yes, it's that good.

UMUR "Heavy Breathing" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Seattle, Washington based metal act Black Breath. The album was released through Southern Lord Records in March 2010. Black Breath was formed in 2006 and released a demo that same year before releasing the promising "Razor to Oblivion" EP in 2008. A release that screamed for a successor.

The music on "Heavy Breathing" is a combination of death, thrash and hardcore punk (which is a continuation of the style on "Razor to Oblivion"), but ultimately Black Breath can be labelled none of those. The death metal elements on the album consist of a really obvious Entombed (and in part Dismember) influence. The thrash metal influence is heard in the caustic vocal delivery (which is not growling despite the death metal influences in the music) and some really heavy and groovy mid-paced thrashy riffing. And to top of the genre confusion there are several hardcore punked D-beat rhythms and simple but effective riffing on the album too. The music is as such not very original, but it´s damn effective. The 40:13 minutes long album is an exhausting experience (which in this case is positive). Relentless aggressive energy, and an ear for simple yet effective songwriting. "Heavy Breathing" is not one-dimensional though, which a track like the instrumental title track ensures. There´s a good balance between the faster aggressive parts and the mid-paced heavy parts all the way through the album and that ensures some variation too.

The sound production is crushing. Raw and filthy but not lo-fi. When the band strike the old school Swedish death metal vein, it´s impossible not to think of the good old Sunlight Studio.

"Heavy Breathing" is every bit as great as I had hoped for and effectively develops on the sound that was initiated on the "Razor to Oblivion" EP. The album is raw, filthy, mean, and aggressive death´n´roll/crossover thrash, delivered with a fierce energy and tons of conviction. A big 4 star (80%) rating is well deserved.