Fatal Exposure

Chemical Breath were irrelevant. They broke no new ground. They arrived too late to make any impact on the scene, and bashed together elements from all their favourite death metal bands. Despite this, they made great death metal and they had their own sound. A name like Chemical Breath (with an album titled "Fatal Exposure"), leads you to think of Sadus and their first album ("Chemical Exposure"). Those who like early Sadus will probably like Chemical Breath too because there are similarities between them. Still, these guys were more on the death metal side of the fence than Sadus. The sound of this album is closer to the first Massacre and Deicide albums, with some of the floaty parts of "Human"-era Death added.

The album is an instinctive blend of simplicity and complexity. It sounds great when they hammer away on repetitive Kreator-esque thrash riffs, like the one after two minutes of "The Advantage of Disbelieve". It also sounds great when they're throwing around some dizzying, Possessed-ish riffs (like the middle of "Several Hours to Judgement"). The music is complex enough to retain the listener's interest, but has enough momentum and groove. The solos are good, showing a strong James Murphy influence (the guitarist isn't as good as Murphy, of course). There are no weak songs here. The song-writing is more consistent than on most death metal records. Interestingly, there are only two songs from the band's demos here ("Mutilation" and "Erased from Existence"), which is unusual for a death metal debut album.

The production is excellent. Every death metal band on the Crypta Records label recorded at Delta Studio in Germany. Chemical Breath were no exception. Most of the time, these Delta productions are ill-suited to death metal (as was the case with Amboss and Krhomadeath). The feel of Delta’s records often sounded over-processed and artificial, not organic enough for old school death metal. The Delta production suits Chemical Breath though. This is by far the best produced death metal album in the Crypta catalogue (only Gorement's "The Ending Quest" comes close). The instruments sound beefy and well-balanced, and the vocals have some real bite in them. The band's precise riffing, crisp lead guitar and prominent bass works well with this sound.

A record like "Fatal Exposure" will never get into anyone's top-ten death metal albums. There is nothing particularly original about it, and the drum fills sometimes sound a little awkward (see "Chamber of Lost" for example). It also lacks the awe-inspiring moments that real classic death metal albums have. Don’t let these criticisms deter you though. This is a solid death metal album which has aged well. This is easily good enough (and obscure enough) to qualify as a lost treasure of the European death metal underground. These guys were good.

Chemical Breath… the mere pronunciation of the name fills your mouth with all kinds of poisonous chemicals, making you run to the nearest bathroom to wash your teeth, or to the grocery at the corner for a pack of Mentos. Yes, it’s absurd to think that musicians hiding under that moniker would be responsible for the second greatest double (two very strong albums released in quick succession before the band disappear, or take a looong hiatus) in metal history, right after the one achieved by Merciful Fate with “Melissa” and “Don’t Break the Oath” ten years earlier. Some American (Agent Steel, Realm, Toxik, Holy Terror, Heathen) and German (Exumer, Paradox, Vendetta) heroes, and also the compatriots Target came close, but all their debut efforts left something to be desired whereas in this case one can give a perfect score to both opuses without even first, let alone second thoughts… a rare feat for sure.

The band didn’t quite come splashing on the scene as they had two demos released before the album reviewed here. The debut one was a bit sloppy and rough-around-the edges, not promising much but the next in line standard thrash/death metal fare; but the second coming was a stellar technical affair which saw two tracks from it qualifying for the official release. The guys had chosen the more challenging, more technical side of the hybrid, and although they missed the golden 1991, they joined a small, but fabulous group of acts who shaped a most delightful aftermath from the previous year’s flood of genius: Sadus (“A Vision of Misery”), Baphomet (“Latest Jesus”), Decision D (“Razon de la Muerte”), and Polluted Inheritance (”Ecocide”).

This effort is a perennial delight for the ears from the first to the last note; “The Advantage of Disbelief” is the first mind-boggler which fills the aether with superb clinical technical guitars the more linear fast-paced passages recalling Death and Pestilence; hold your mouth shut in the middle, otherwise your jaws will drop exposed to the fantastic technical whirlpool stirred the latter superseded by a breath-taking serene interlude. “Arachnid” has an imposing doomy intro the speedy rifforama rising literally out of the blue before gorgeous melodic pirouettes beautify the dramatic riff-dense environment. “Chamber of Lost” moves upward with stomping Death-esque escalations, becoming faster and faster with time, also more technical as evident from the spiral shape the riffs acquire in the second half which also serves pacifying mid-tempo stomps.

“Deny Fear” is a crunchy hallucinogenic shredder which breaks the initially instilled mid-paced “idyll” with fierce death/thrashing that will keep the headbangers happy all over. “Erased from Existence”, a cut from the demo, is a supreme speedy technicaller ala Pestilence’s “Testimony of the Ancients” which still finds time for a more engaging progressive build-up that forms a spell-binding symbiosis with a more technical dash the memory of this grandiosity erased from the listener’s mind by the next in line super-aggressive ending. “Several Hours to Judgement” adheres to smattering virtuous gallops boding a marginally more conventional delivery, but watch out for the mazey riff-formulas breaking the stride mid-way, and the more laid-back, lead-driven decisions before the hyper-active exit. “Lost Tribes” flirts with more melodic tunes retaining the intrigue with a splash of brilliant more dynamic riffage, the carnage resumed on full-throttle mere seconds later, the gallops called for help again amidst the furious stylish cannonades. “Hideous Perspectives” unleashes all the technical perspective… sorry, exuberance from the get-go leaving no secrets for the fan who will still be left thoroughly bemused by the unpredictable vortexes which here don’t develop beyond the staggering mid-pace the urgent stomps provided later pacifying the hyper-intricate drama. “Mutilation”, another qualifier from the demo, has the (un)grateful task to finish this masterpiece, and it doesn’t disappoint with its sweeping brisk technical guitars, the disorienting tempo shifts, and the stunning time-signatures before a lengthy ambient outro puts an end to the whole very eventful hustle’n bustle.

It’s interesting to note that all the mentioned 1992 albums, with the possible exception of the Baphomet saga, sound like mixtures of two recordings of the preceding year: Death’s “Human” and Pestilence’s “Testimony of the Ancients”, the latter instalment finding its most logical follow-up on the album reviewed here while the other three cling more towards the Death opus. Very wise choices to follow as models by all means as our Belgian friends and the Steve DiGiorgio gang had managed to create something way more than mere emulation by even enhancing the templates used, giving them more expansive parametres with a wider array of rhythmic patterns and denser riff applications, not to mention the still roaming thrash additives. Death metal was still a coherent genre at the time, no pollutants, no diversifying tools, and some may see these works as the culmination of the technical side of the style in its early, still ephemerally thrash-peppered form. The dark aspect of the style was already suggested on the Suffocation debut “Effigy of the Forgotten” (also 1991), still in its pristine unpolished shape, but it was obvious that technical/progressive sophistication and intelligence weren’t going to be tolerated much longer on the scene as the dazzling brutality movement was gathering inertia.

Not that Chemical Breath cared too much about that as they shot their sophomore “Values” two years later, another marvellous recording, proceeding in the same striking technical vein even notching it up in that department with more labyrinthine, more head-shaking configurations. A truly fabulous, albeit very short career which could have had a nice sequel after the guitar player Alain Chernouh joined the promising Dutch technical/progressive thrashers Form for the production of their excellent debut “I Choose My Own”. Sadly, he didn’t last very long with his neighbours, but ironically was replaced by his former colleague from Chemical Breath, Rene Rokx, the other guitarist, who took part in the making of the Dutch’s sophomore “Shock Corridor”, a disappointing groovy post-thrash affair which terminated their career with ship-sinking reverberations. The band members were obviously looking for ways to keep in form since they never abandoned the Chemical Breath cause completely, and are alive and well in the new millennium, reportedly bracing for a new spell with the music industry. So it won’t be just a double for them then… let’s see if they could achieve the proverbial fantastic treble!

The album Fatal Exposure by Belgian band Chemical Breath creates a great blend of death metal and thrash on this release. The album begins with a weird ambient part that lasts for about a minute and a half then cuts into drumming that reminds me of what the preparation for a battle would sound like. A little shredding along with harsh vocals come into play soon enough. This is all part of just the first song "The Advantage of Disbelief". About halfway through that song there are some subtle female vocals and whispering followed by only what I can describe as ecstasy in guitar form. This solo is orgasmic to say the least, my favorite part of the whole album, too bad it is so short...Although there are plenty of solos on the album. After that the song cuts back into the catchy main riff and ends. This is just one song into the album.... out of eight.

Some songs on the album can be related to Obituary, I especially think "Arachnid" sounds this way. "Erased From Existence" is a little heavier sounding and just kind of pulls you down, while still maintaining a fast pace. "Deny Fear" is sort of like the last song and the two go good together.

I'm not going to describe the rest of the songs (and probably shouldn't have described any like I did)... but all in all, if you like death metal, and you like thrash metal, you like this album. Some of it lacks in originality, but since it was produced in 1992, this is somewhat of a moot point. If you listen to and like the first song on this album, you'll probably like the rest of the material here.