ninehertz

This is a difficult album to gage and review. Breath, from Portland, have created an album of real skill and no little listening enjoyment – bountiful songs of droned out doom that I thoroughly enjoyed. But there’s an elephant in the room from the beginning. It owes plenty to a single inspirational source.

And that would be Om. It’s not subtle either. It is there in the opening song, in the vocals, in the Cisneros bass magic. Perhaps it is a touch fuzzier, on the edge of stoner rock and there’s a nice psychedelic mini-section that adds their own stamp, providing hope. And then Awen begins, and… nope. This mainlines Variations on a Theme.

At which point, you wonder what the point is, being brutally honest. Thankfully third track diverges somewhat. It is in the same astral neighbourhood, but different. Delicate guitar flickers move it from the pure bass drone and give it an airy, psych-cloud like feel that’s nice to reside in, proof that there’s a place for Breath. More of this please.

Sages reverts back to type, but thankfully the final couple of tracks open up for Breath to breathe their own oxygen and showcase what they can do. The first is a cool, chilled affair of a Planet Caravan mindset, while the closer if the most individual of all, with playful guitars that are more like Earthless than anyone.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Om like the next sane person, but Breath's inspiration is too clearly imprinted. But... there are two things that give hope and shine through regardless – and, it must be said, make this still a very listenable, very good album. One – they’re obviously skilled doom practitioners, so even if you can forget the obvious reference point there’s joy to be had. And most of all, there is beauty in here when they hold their own line.