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(Nic Renshaw)įor a few weeks in mid-2017, The Nods' "The City Swallows" pretty much ruled my life. Enslaved to One is a bold first step from Crow Killer, positioning the band on the cutting edge of Salt Lake's heavy music scene. Tracks like "Hang Tight" and "Fight Back" carry a blunt, unambiguously progressive message in their lyrics, and "Bring Back the Blood II" enlists guest vocalist Megan Golden for a moody, off-kilter venture into post-hardcore. Throughout the album, Crow Killer never forget their principal duty of providing aggressive, pummeling tunes to get a crowd going, but with aspirations go a little beyond the mosh pit as well. Tyler Rhodes and Josh Nemcek's rabid, chaotic riffs and frontman Blake Foard's throat-searing screams combine to kick the album off with a bang, and the subsequent nine tracks keep up the energy with aplomb. On the album's Bandcamp page, genre tags like "stompcore" and "gospel rap" might set off alarm bells in some listeners' heads, but within seconds of pressing play, opener "Castigate" will lay to rest any fears of ill-advised genre-blending. The band's desire to make a mark on a genre they're intimately familiar with comes through loud and clear on their debut full-length Enslaved to One. While my limited personal experience with metalcore led me to better-known reference points like Knocked Loose, Gaza and Converge, this SLC quintet cites as influences Belgian metalcore luminaries Congress and Liar, as well as obscure, mosh-ready punk acts like Vamachara and Detain. Details can be found at /breakfastinsilence or on Instagram at Murphy)Ĭrow Killer have clearly done their homework, and it shows.

A live streaming album-release show is scheduled for April 10. Breakfast in Silence will only improve as their dynamics become more conspicuous, but CW: Loss is an emotional success. "Call Your Grandma" is the best song the band has written yet, emotionally complex but direct "Riff Hard x Solo More," "The Worst" and "DLTN" stand out, too. They have a good instinct for balancing dissonance and harmony, and their guitarwork is nimble and creative, giving these nine songs a real sense of understated accomplishment. But, it's a testament to how intentional this band is that their multifaceted arrangements are distinct, if not high-contrast enough.

The heavy sections could be heavier, the melodic songs more melodic, the grooves tighter. Musically, CW: Loss is a clear leap forward for the band, even if it sometimes feels limited. Lyrics that begin as a plain report to the audience twist into secret imagery. Superficially, the writing is vulnerable and forthcoming-scattered with personal accounts of grief, guilt, abuse and despair-but it also hides away from itself. The songwriting contains a contradiction, though, which existed in singer Ash Bassett's past lyrics, too. The sophomore full-length from Salt Lake City's emo revivalist outfit Breakfast in Silence-Val Brown (drums), Russ Wood (guitar) and Ash Bassett (guitar/vox)-is a nine-song emotional purge that improves on the churning jangle-punk of 2018's It's Hard To Be Open-Minded When You Wanna Die.