Reviews

When the applause came on five seconds into Charmer, the first full length by Louisville's Breather Resist, my heart sank. Their last amazing EP, Only in The Morning, on Deathwish Inc., had been bookended by the same recorded cheers, cheers I had grown to hate while intensely loving that EP.  I think Breather Resist knew that I would sit though that quick sample because they knew I knew just how amazing the rest of the album would be. It’s like when the Locust drones on and on for a few minutes before launching into a song, they just want to see how much the audience will put up with to get to the good stuff. Charmer is eleven tracks of the good stuff, the huge heavy crush-core ala Norma Jean or a more bluntly bludgeoning Converge. The Converge influence is especially relevant given that Breather Resist recorded Charmer with Kurt Ballou at his God City Studios.  Expect a record that sits on the high end of the Richter scale (it could level a small town) but that still has some nasty A Life Once Lost time sig changes. As an added bonus, continuing in the vein of Only In The Morning, Charmer has die cut, mind blowing packaging. If you also take into consideration that coffin shaped single, Breather Resist has had some of the best packaging in recent memory. I’m going to go get their surgical mask logo tattooed on my face. That is, if I had a face.