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Embodyment - Hold Your Breath

 

	RELEASED: October 9, 2001 PRODUCER: LABEL:Tooth & Nail Records BAND: Sean Corbray
+ Decent production, At least they can actually sing - Pretty bland songwriting, Lack of good hooks, 2-chord instrumentals	TRACKS: 1.Yours Truly 2.Belly Up 2.Decade 4.K-9 5.Set The Stage 6.Heaven Is A Letter Bomb 7.A Season's End 8.Binge And Purge 9.Moving On 10.Cruise Control

 

OVERVIEW

Ok, let’s play Jeopardy.  Answer: Texas-based Solid State Records band that went from death metal to grindcoreish metalcore to alternative metal to melodic hard rock, all over 4 album’s time? 
Who is Embodyment? 
 I’d imagine quite a few other people were scratching their heads and asking themselves this question too, especially after this CD came out.  When you break onto the Christian scene with an album like “Embrace the Eternal”, which is full of everywhere-at-once grind-influenced drums and music that could pass for outtakes off of Zao’s “Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest” after Zao drank a case of Red Bull, the last thing you’d expect is down-tempo, almost-radio-ready hard rock.

 Ok, enough with the history lesson.  And I have nothing against hard rock.  But my criteria for good hard rock state this: a hard rock album has to ROCK, HARD.  This is my biggest problem with “Hold Your Breath” – most of it comes off as sludgy or droning, rather than hard-hitting or aggressive.  Every so often, there’s a catchy riff here and there, like the main part to the album’s opening cut “Yours Truly” (one of the better songs on this disc, for sure), but for the most part the album keeps dragging itself on with slower, dirgy numbers like “Decade” and “A Season’s End”, and some tracks feature some pretty major-key-sounding vocals that come off as somewhat out of place with the music itself.

 

SONGS

 “Hold Your Breath” actually kicks off with a decent burst of energy – “Yours Truly” has a nice little hard groove to it and at least remains tolerable during the choruses.  “Belly Up” also isn’t half bad, not really heavy, but not a bad rock tune.  “Decade” is where the album really takes a dive for me.  The slow, dirgy number is pretty forgettable.  “K-9” is actually somewhat reminiscent of “Embrace the Eternal” rhythmically (minus the blast beats and inhuman screaming, of course), but fails to catch your attention in any other way.  “Set the Stage” is another “Decade”-esque dirge; slow, plodding, and honestly pretty forgettable.  “Heaven In a Letterbomb” actually kicks it back into more rock territory for a bit, and this track isn’t half bad, except that it follows the form of “Yours Truly” almost exactly – mid-tempo rock riff, slow it down and sing pretty in the chorus, repeat 3x, and end song.  “A Season’s End” and “Binge and Purge” both continue in the same vein of predictable songwriting.  Fortunately, “Cruise Control” is a little bright spot – well, not really, it’s a fairly dark song, but at least it stands out somewhat. 

 

CONCLUSION

I guess my main problem with this album is just that it all runs together as bland and really pretty forgettable.  You can find a better way to spend $15. Bottom line:  If slow-paced, moody hard rock with squeaky clean vocals is your thing, you might like this.  There are a few decent ideas in here, but the songwriting leaves a whole lot to be desired. 

Review by Matt Rewinski

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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