Swedish band DeathBreed was formed back in 2009, and has been a venture that appears to have line-up changes and alterations as something of a permanent issue throughout their history so far according to their own biography. They have had some relatively stable periods though, and they recorded their debut album during one of these. This production was named “New World Order”, and was released through US label Rogue Records America at the start of 2015.
While my personal taste in music is fairly expansive, among the genres where my tastes are select rather than inclusive is extreme metal. DeathBreed is a band that does explore such landscapes, and hence my take on them and their album will most likely be a bit more critical than one written by someone more immersed in this specific environment. Age and exposure makes me a harder person to please than many others and younger out there I imagine.
The most positive aspect of this album for me is that it is a well mixed and produced one. I don’t know what budget these guys had, but they have certainly used whatever they invested into this album to get one that sounds very good throughout. All the instruments and vocals are well balanced, the arrangements are clear, and everything is placed just about perfectly as far as I can tell. Whenever a gentler touch is applied it stands out just as it should, not overexposed but not hidden away either. In this department this is a very nice album as far as I’m concerned.
As for the music itself, it is a rather intense one. The guitar riffs are pace-filled, hard and tight or slower paced, loud and booming, the bass underscore in a fairly similar manner to the guitars, the drummer maintains intensity quite nicely and the vocals are of the loud, rich and dark growling variety. The soundscapes are tightly packed with all sorts of sounds throughout, with only occasional moments filled with a slight breathing space from time to time.
This isn’t a frantic, 200 miles per hour race though. While the band does venture out into the realms approaching the speed of light, they have room, and perhaps more room than many others for slower paced interludes and sections, lowering the speed to thrash metal intensity as well as heavy metal, and one might argue that a few sequences here and there are rather more doom-metal oriented as far as pace is concerned. The instruments tends to get louder and more booming when pace slow down though, so in terms of sheer intensity this isn’t detrimental to that aspect of the album, and does add a bit of variation as well. Some of the songs came across as creations with a slight djent metal touch to them as well, possibly expanding the scope of the album ever so slightly there, and I also note that DeathBreed have a tendency to focus on flowing, harmony oriented guitar solo runs with neo-classical lapses rather than the frantic, quirky speed contest guitar solo passages some extreme metal bands appears to have a fascination with. Clever use of keyboards to create a cold, alien mood on a couple of occasions are also duly noted, with a thumbs up from me for that small detail.
While DeathBreed’s debut album ultimately comes across as too intense for me to truly appreciate what they are doing, with a positive exception being second track Surveillance, I can easily hear that there’s a high quality to this album as a whole. Just how broad a reach it will have is my main uncertainty, but if you have a general tendency to enjoy intense and well produced death metal with a fair deal of variation in terms of pace and song structure, then I find it likely that this album will merit a check at some point. The band have suggested that artists such as Aeon, Soreption and As You Drown have been influential, so if any of those names ring a bell in a positive manner I presume you should take note of these guys as well.
My rating: 62/100
