The Breathing Process
Odyssey (Un)Dead
6.9
Amercian bands using keyboards in a more ‘core’ based setting is nothing new now: Bleeding Through, Winds of Plague, Abigail Williams, Born of Osiris and many others have introduced synths to deathcore and metalcore with mixed results. With rotating line up featuring a who’s who of metalcore and deathcore (from acts like Invocation of Nehek, Shallow Water Grave, On Paths of Torment, Rose Funeral, Abigail Williams) the debut In Waking: Divinity from this Connecticut band was one of the fair to middling efforts, but was far from impressive. However, the follow up seems to have stabilized the band’s line up and sound.
Directed squarely at the Winds of Plague lovers, The Breathing Process are a deathcore band that utilizes a heavy symphonic, black metal sound into their breakdowns and blast beats, and on some level – just like Winds of Plague it works, while still making you wonder quizzically – “How”?.
Armed with a pretty impressive vocalist in John LaFreniere (and some female vocals from guitarist Sara Loerlein), The Breathing Process do their Dimmu Borgir meets Whitechapel thing with aplomb and energy and seems to be the natural bridge between the already oft mentioned duo of Abigail Williams and Winds of Plague: enough blackened majesty to not seemed forced and enough heft to appeal to the deathcore crowd, and personally, The Breathing Process seem far more naturally adept at the crossover than both the aforementioned acts.
Though a concept album, none of the tracks really standout per say but, rather a pretty solid consistency fills the album from “Grimoire” all the way through to “Decaying Form”. There are the requisite interludes (“Hours”, “Starless Eternal” & “Wind Ritual”), but for the most part the album rumbles and blazes with stern energy, burly heft and sweeping ivory tinkling in ample balance and other than the interludes only “Pantheon” seems to slow things down. Otherwise the likes of “Leveller”, “Vultures (Unravelling)” and notably “Hordes” all do their thing with plenty of well produced if disposable furor resulting in a decent if hardly ground breaking album that might not appease hardcore metal masses, but will entertain the more youthful Hot Topic metal crowd.
