Breaths – Though Life Has Turned Out Nothing Like I Imagined, It Is Far Better Than I Could Have Dreamt
Trepanation Recordings
Release Date: 21/01/22
Running Time: 36:24
Review by Dark Juan
9/10
It is miserable, cold and pouring with rain outside Dark Juan Terrace. Mrs Dark Juan is under a quilt on the sofa, making a round half dozen of what she is calling Paradoxical Bats. This is a woman who claims she is not a Goth, even though she has expertly carved out a niche in fabric art based upon the British belief that witches can transform into hares (also neatly dovetailing with the British were-animal being the were-hare) and is currently listening to a horror podcast whilst creating these beasts of the dark. Her Smellhounds are arrayed all around her, all gently snoring and farting, as per usual and I am banished to the other sofa because there is not enough room for my fat ass to fit on there as well. So, with my ‘pooter in my lap, I decided to attack my ever-growing list of things that need to be listened to and talked about…
I wish to make one thing clear, before I begin. I am a reviewer of music. This implies a certain criticality of viewpoint with regard to quality, ability, production and the like. This also means that if an album is poor, it is going to get a low score. I do not write for Ever-Metal.com to simply kiss the arses of musicians. Equally, if something is superb, expect me to froth excitedly in a most ungentlemanly fashion. I will attempt to be fair in my reviews and explain what is wrong with the record I am listening to, as much as I will laud to the highest heights. It is not for me to influence the marketing of a band, unless the record company and the band want to use my stuff in their blurb, which is always welcome, but I just might not get what other people are hearing. All the words I have written over the past few years (and there are many thousands of them now) are opinion pieces and I stand by my opinions. I do not feel that bands and record labels should expect anything less than honesty and not just expect smoke to be blown up the arse of someone because they have recorded some music. All art is subjective. And it’s my job to tell people about it.
Today’s thing that is here to be listened to and talked about is an album with an extraordinarily long title. “Though Life Has Turned Out Nothing Like I Imagined, It Is Far Better Than I Could Have Dreamt” is the second album by the irritatingly talented, multi-instrumentalist bastard (yes, this is jealousy talking because Dark Juan is something of a 20th rate musician) Jason Roberts of America, under the name of Breaths. This is a man who has a fine understanding of music, and is something of a genre-bending king. The record is a trip through the highs and lows of Jason’s life and there are some extremely personal moments that bleed emotion and pathos. The list of influences on Jason’s music is as diverse as it is eclectic – There are the grandiose soundscapes of Opeth and Soldat Hans, the primal power of the more polished practitioners of Black Metal à la Emperor. The emotive drone of Swans and the disassociated shoegaze of Kitchens Of Distinction. The punk edge of Killing Joke and the sweeping emotion of Deftones. This disparate (and some might say diametrically opposed) bunch of styles and influences combine to create a whole new beast, a chimeric interpolation of sounds and styles twining sinuously around each other – ‘The Wayward’ reminding this jaded hack of The Prize Fighter Inferno, before fuzzy, chunky bass leads into a howling Black Metal vocal replete with flayed emotions over-pinning a very Post-Metal riff that segues into a strange and intoxicating brew of Emo vocals and muscular Heavy Metal before fading on an overdriven note.
Opening track, ‘The Elders’, is a masterpiece in blackened drone – A heavy, slow grind depicting the pain of losing your older relatives and the wisdom they had. An unapologetic Black Metal scream leads to a clean vocal that sounds like the protagonist coming to terms with their loss, before returning to the raw pain, neatly encompassed by the lines:
“You were the ones I was closest to,
Yet I barely remember you.”
Syncopation and complicated rhythms and patterns abound. Jason Roberts is not so much a musician and vocalist as a dream-weaver, combining the rawest of emotional pain with dreamy, nostalgic memories. Concrete crushing heaviness gives way to grief driven soundscapes tinged with keyboards and electronics before expansive joy. ‘The Patriarch’ would not sound out of place on a Coheed And Cambria album until the last two minutes of the song. It’s all polished and smooth. Then it morphs and changes shape into a seriously pissed off killing machine that references Deathcore, Djent and the howling madness of Black Metal in the vocal. ‘The Tormented’ reminds me of Jaz Coleman singing in Pandemonium-era Killing Joke before that impassioned Black Metal vocal once again slams itself into the forefront of your attention, over a driving, almost industrial beat and heavy, pulverising guitar and a swirling keyboard line.
Jason is a fucking talented guitarist and bass player as well as an excellent singer in at least three different styles. The album’s production is just so, being rich and full as well as being Arcticly clean and pure. Every instrument can be clearly heard and easily distinguished at all times, even when the music is pure sonic attack. My only complaint is that the drums are obviously sequenced and electronic, but for all this they are very good indeed. This really is a nit-picking point, considering Jason does fucking EVERYTHING on this album and it would be extremely churlish of me to expect him to have mastered tub-thumping as well. The song arrangements are inventive and original and the musicianship and the vocals absolutely jaw-droppingly splendid. Clearly this is a one-man musical project that is welded to the heart of Jason Roberts. Rarely have I heard such an emotional rollercoaster of a record, one that is yet more proof that true heaviness can be achieved in other ways than sheer power.
There’s no need for this level of egregious talent. Bet the fucker is really good looking as well to make sure I hit new, exciting levels of self-loathing.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System awards Breaths 9/10 for an almost perfect album. A mark was deducted for the drum sound, and The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System hates itself for doing it to an album that would be a perfect late night on the motorway record.
‘The Patriarch’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. The Elders
02. The Patriarch
03. The Tormented
04. The Empty
05. The Matriarch
06. The Wayward
LINE-UP:
Jason Roberts – Vocals, guitar, bass, programming, engineering/production, mixing, mastering. Absolutely NO NEED.
LINKS:
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