Breather Resist
Only In The Morning (2003)
Jim
I'm supposed to like this, right? It's out on Deathwish Inc., it kind of reminds me of Coalesce, it also has some similarities to Converge, and finally, this band is very talented. You'd think that with all those things working in their favor Breather Resist would put out one hell of an EP. You'd think wrong.
This band has all the elements for success, but in the end they just don't live up to their potential. Bands like Converge, Coalesce, and The Dillinger Escape Plan play a very chaotic style of music, but they manage to make sense of it. Breather Resist uses chaos as well, but for some reason their songs never seem to go anywhere. This entire EP seems like it's building to up to the moment when the switch is flipped, but that moment never actually comes. Instead of being an engaging listen, this disc just seems to drag on and on. There is also a noticeable lack of memorable moments. I have no doubt that these songs took talent to pull off, but it seems like it's all been done before, and better. The riffs seem recycled and as this EP played I could only keep thinking "hey, this reminds me of (band here) in (song here)."
There aren't really any striking differences between the tracks either, one more reason why this drags on. It's really difficult to pin down exactly what this band is lacking. They have the talent; they have the pedigree (Evan Patterson of Black Cross on guitar); perhaps they just lack heart.
I really wanted to like this, I thought I just wasn't getting it, but after a dozen or so listens I can safely say that this just isn't for me. Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm missing something here, but in my opinion this EP is mediocre. I was really looking forward to this release so I'll have to chalk it up as one my first really disappointments of the year. If you like Converge or Coalesce you might want to give this one a listen, but I think I'll stick with this band's influences.