Another Breath: Syracuse's finest hardcore punk
Jared Dean
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: A&E
Another Breath is a hardcore-punk band hailing from Syracuse, NY. This past December they released their new record entitled God Complex which quickly acquired praises of all kinds imaginable. After a month or so of listening to the record, and then double-backing to re-listen to Another Breath's prior releases, I'm willing to say that this record is a breakthrough not only for the band, but for hardcore-punk bands across NYS, if not the country.
The opening track titled "No God" starts with a quick drum fill and a solid bass-line. A typical guitar-build slowly ensues into a not-so-typical climax. If this were a typecast hardcore album, the climax should be a fast paced series of eighth notes that any troglodyte who picked up a guitar could master, but they didn't do that. Instead an almost repressed palm muting beats through your ears while the singer bellows out the lyric "there's still no God." Immediately one is taken aback by the clarity that the singer is yelling with. The vocals are punchy, clean, and crisp; not like the low growl and tough-guy-Neanderthal grunt heard on the latest Hatebreed album.
The next three songs blow by quickly, though in total clocking in at about 6 minutes. And believe me when I say that they are filled with riffs reminiscent of nothing I could name. I'm struggling with pinning down an influence on the album as a whole, and it is driving me nuts. There are more licks provided by this album than Mohammad-Ali, and catchier than Holden in his Rye field. Yet it has its slow songs as well; songs that are simple in guitar work, but heavy in lyrics.
The title track of the album "God Complex" really sets a tone that weaves the entire album. The song deals with family troubles and losing faith in God. The line "When I'm caught in my reflection face to face with God and the Devil and my Father and Myself" is really what brings the album from what initially seems like a hate-on-religion, pro-atheism album to a psychological narrative. After that song, the narration switches from being about a common human being who does not believe in the existence of a god to a disillusioned maniac, suggesting that he is the Devil and the Messiah at the same time.
The opening track titled "No God" starts with a quick drum fill and a solid bass-line. A typical guitar-build slowly ensues into a not-so-typical climax. If this were a typecast hardcore album, the climax should be a fast paced series of eighth notes that any troglodyte who picked up a guitar could master, but they didn't do that. Instead an almost repressed palm muting beats through your ears while the singer bellows out the lyric "there's still no God." Immediately one is taken aback by the clarity that the singer is yelling with. The vocals are punchy, clean, and crisp; not like the low growl and tough-guy-Neanderthal grunt heard on the latest Hatebreed album.
The next three songs blow by quickly, though in total clocking in at about 6 minutes. And believe me when I say that they are filled with riffs reminiscent of nothing I could name. I'm struggling with pinning down an influence on the album as a whole, and it is driving me nuts. There are more licks provided by this album than Mohammad-Ali, and catchier than Holden in his Rye field. Yet it has its slow songs as well; songs that are simple in guitar work, but heavy in lyrics.
The title track of the album "God Complex" really sets a tone that weaves the entire album. The song deals with family troubles and losing faith in God. The line "When I'm caught in my reflection face to face with God and the Devil and my Father and Myself" is really what brings the album from what initially seems like a hate-on-religion, pro-atheism album to a psychological narrative. After that song, the narration switches from being about a common human being who does not believe in the existence of a god to a disillusioned maniac, suggesting that he is the Devil and the Messiah at the same time.
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