Breaker

After Ekklesia and Portraits, where could the band go other than up? Well, up they went and further built upon the foundation that they set with their previous album. Again, they have come through with a hard hitting, fast, and uncompromising album chalk full of well crafted breakdowns, pounding riffs, and heavy sounding vocals.

Breaker to me sounds like an honest album written in the perspective of someone who is well, broken. Found in the interlude tracks: The Breaker's Origin, The Breaker's Valley, The Breaker's Encounter, and lastly The Breaker's Commission. These tracks help glue the album together and make it become a cohesive experience for the listener. While they are mostly spoken word, they place said listener into an atmosphere of honesty and reflection of the past traumas and faults. It took me a while to understand this album, but they set the pacing for the album as a whole.

Like its predecessor Portraits, Breaker has latched onto the bands hardcore influences and ran with them, but at the same time, this is more of a metal album with a darker sound not entirely found on Portraits. The mix sounds bigger and everything is louder. The bass guitar specifically makes its appearance in the breakdowns and has given them more body and presence. Again, there are awesome riffs to be found a plenty, two-step parts, and lead guitar lines that are uber sweet. The drumming on the album is nothing less than spectacular this time around, playing everything with precision and nothing on the kit was neglected. Mattie's vocals have gotten deeper and more pronounced; a commanding sound to a voice is always good to be found in a vocalist.

I have nothing bad to say about this album, as this album grew on me as time went on and became on of my most played albums by For Today, and I consider it to be a perfect album down to the last second. It's pacing works well, no filler all killer. I don't want to give away too much and spoil it for anyone who hasn't heard Breaker, but go listen to it.