Black Breath - Sentenced to Life (2012)

Black Breath's debut, 'Heavy Breathing' was a random and different release for me which just sort of feel into my sight and ears after a friend gave it a positive review. Previewing a few songs on youtube convinced me to pick it up and a year and half later and I wouldn't hesitate to call it one of my favorite albums of the past several years.

So, how would the follow-up, 'Sentenced to Life' fair against this massive debut? Initially I thought less of this release, it seemed to lack the anger, energy, catchy riffs and killer solos the debut offered, but after seeing the band live last week and getting fucking wasted before hand and going completely batshit at the show I really started to feel differently. I'm not sure how that works exactly, but it might have something to do with screaming into the mic with singer Neil McAdams and moshing like a mother fucker while attending. Usually not my thing, but, ya know, sometimes reality hits hard and you got to let loose.

Anyway, 'Sentenced to Life' carries on the Black Breath tradition of mixing hardcore, crust punk and Swedish death metal, which results in a sound that reminds of old Entombed and Dismember, but its sort of a modern age reimagining of sorts. To me this album tends to lean more towards the hardcore side this time around though, whereas the debut often times just sounded like Swedish death metal with a loud throaty hoarse shouter at the mic. As such, I don't think the album is as catchy, but it certainly boasts the same levels of energy and pure anger from start to finish.

The guitars once again hold that buzzing SDM sound as well the bass is massive and the drums sound natural and explosive throughout the record. Songs like, 'Feast of the Damned' or 'Sentenced to Life' remind me the most of the debut, but I also dig the slower, 'Endless Corpse' and you've just gotta love the guitar work in the song, 'Obey.'

Depending on when you hear this album it might change your opinion entirely. I'm sure many of the reviews I've read for this album were from people that missed the first album entirely, or have just heard it recently. In the end this album doesn't top the debut, but its still pretty damn good. It runs for just a little over thirty two minutes, but that's more than enough time to get some frustrations out while head banging like a maniac to some Black Breath.