Fulton, New York's Another Breath have returned with their debut full-length, Mill City. This is their follow-up to their first offering, 2004's Not Now, Not Ever, which blasted through eight songs in just fifteen minutes. Mill City may contain nearly twice as many songs, but the album clocks in at just over thirty-five minutes. So what we have here is an album's worth of an intense hardcore songs that, for the most part, clock in at or under two minutes.
It will likely take you only a handful of seconds of the opening track, "Jailbreak," to be able to state that the band draws heavily on the youth-crew revival scene that took place in the Boston area in the late 90's. "Coward" is another fine example of this, seeing the band drive through the song in under a minute; I especially loved the bass tone heard on this track. "I'm Pro-You-Shutting-the-Fuck-Up" is another killer tune in which we not only get some amazing fast riffs, but are also treated to a little guitar solo. Factor in the coarse vocals delivered by frontman Ted and the song is eerily familiar to those found on Background Music. Another Breath are as fast as their predecessors when they want to be, but rather than playing swift straight-forward hardcore all the time, the band takes the time to experiment with some different sounds.
"Diesel and Gunpowder" opens with a nice mix of angular guitars, thick basslines, and mid-paced fluid drumming. It moves at this clip until the mid-point, where things take a turn towards business as usual. "Orange" is another track that sees Another Breath trying something different with their sound. The song starts off with some slow riffs that have a bit of a crunch to them; they sound vaguely like something from a Quicksand record with a tad more force. The pace quickens in a segment in the middle of the song, returns to the form that opened the track, and then picks up again at the very end of the song. The dynamics of this song are quite unexpected considering the majority of the record is straightforward hardcore played a lightning speed. The album comes to a close with "Catharsis (The Conclusion)," which is a fitting title given the lyrical content as well as the mood that is evoked by the music.
Mill City is more than just your above-average hardcore album though. Beyond the music there lies the story of a group of young men and their adventures in this harsh world that we live in. They have encountered it all, and it is here for us to experience in the music and lyrics of these fifteen songs. One of my personal favorite lyrical morsels comes from "Orange:"
The more I fight, the more I fail. Exhaustion. Letting go. But I have learned that healing is something that happens, not something you do. Pick a scar and tell a story. I'll tell you one of my own about addiction and self-loathing and a lack of self-control and the cuts I couldn't leave alone.
From start to finish, Mill City is an expressive piece of what hardcore should be and be about. By themselves, both the music and lyrics are good, but it is when they are fused together as one that the true greatness of the album is revealed.
