Black Breath

For some reason, Seattle, WA still brings to mind timid, sad Kurt Cobain types from the mid-'90s. You know the kind, with long, greasy hair hanging over their eyes. For many of us, that's the image of Seattle burned into our brains after growing up with Nirvana, forever marking the city. Sure, the '90s were all angst-y and damaged, but Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden or anything that came from that period in history can't hold a candle to the kind of screaming rage that Seattle, and Washington state in general, is producing in metal today. Olympia's Wolves in the Throne Room and Seattle's Black Breath are redefining the tired image of the '90s that have dominated the region while still retaining the youthful creativity that defined that earlier period. The chaps in Black Breath have produced all-out sonic annihilation with their second LP, Sentenced to Life. The album brings the dead back to life with the best kind of dark thrash, which is dripping with West coast hardcore aggression. Black Breath are so talented, blackened and angry that they sound like they were genetically engineered from Slayer and Suicidal Tendencies' DNA to create some sort of metal savants. Don't be fooled by the cover art that looks like it could be a back catalogue Accept LP: Sentenced to Life is your new favourite album.