Breaker

Audio Mixer: Will Putney.
Recording information: Dukie's, Riverside, CA; Nuthouse Studios, Hoboken, NJ; The Machine Shop, Weehawken, NJ; Tulsa, OK.
Editor: Bill Purcell.
Illustrator: Sol Amstutz.
Christian metalcore outfit For Today's third full-length offering finds the Iowa-based quintet in fine form, dutifully balancing technical artistry and holy rage. Switching out traditional death metal protagonists (the damned, Satan, various types of slithering Hell spawn) with juiced-up Christian warriors is a neat trick, especially when the music and message retain the volatility and nihilistic zeal of the former. This sentiment is captured sublimely on the brutal opener "Devastator," where the band uses "Hell, fear me/I am the one that will bring you down/And when you fall, feel me/You'll see my face on the battleground" as a rallying cry, and on album highlights "The Advocate" and "Seraphim," the latter of which boasts the record's most engaging and rousing chorus. That said, like nearly every entry in the modern hardcore metal genre, Breaker eventually becomes of a victim of its own brutality. The constant barrage of staccato breakdowns, overly compressed bass and kick drum drops, and relentless gang vocals that are too often bereft of any melodic or emotional core eventually bring these heavenly foot soldiers back down to earth. ~ James Christopher Monger