Time is now! French band Betraying The Martyrs perform modern metal with touches from extreme and softer sides. They aren't afraid of mixing in various styles on 'Breathe in Life', which is their first full length album after 2009 EP 'The Hurt, the Divine, the Light'. However, how well are various elements co-operating together, is another question.

It kind of shows, that Betraying The Martyrs are young as a band. The music consists of various bits of brutal death metal, metalcore, mathcore, avantgarde stuff music-wise a bit in vein of Arcturus, Dimmu Borgir-esque symphonic stuff, and gothic metal. The music is more like different music genres played after another during a song, just through some transitions, such as during a death metal part rhythm starts to change into a metalcore rhythm, and vice versa. They do sometimes blend together well, at other times not. Points for trying out in an extensive way, but it just needs reworking. I have a vast taste in music, but I find it hard to connect with all the elements that Betraying The Martyrs carry. The vocals also cover a lot of ground: Deathy growling, metalcore shout and clean voice, which is listenable, thankfully.

Sound-wise this is about in-your-face, as loud things sound very loud. Triggered drums are nowadays' curse. The bass which is absolutely boisterous, does get my thumb up. Guitar tones vary from very heavy to a bit mellower ones. In a word, the production sounds cramped.

On 'Breathe in Life', Betraying The Martyrs have tried to combine a lot of styles together, but fail to do it soulfully. Everything here sounds more or less soulless, constructed, in this technology-filled world. If they would let their music, well, breathe, it could be so much more.

Rating: 5½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
09/13/2011 20:24