Style: progressive death metal, melodic death metal (mostly harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Persefone, Between the Buried and Me, Allegaeon, Mors Principium Est
Country: Mexico
Release date: 20 November 2024
Despite their tenure as one of the best prog bands of the last decade, Persefone’s new direction after losing lead vocalist of twenty years Marc Martins Pia was, frankly, disappointing, the end result an uninspired prog metalcore EP. I hold out hope that they’ll return to the explosive progressive melodeath that made them a staple in my listening rotation, but I’m not holding my breath, meaning it’s time to search for their next stylistic protégé. And as the year comes to its final breaths, Mexico’s Last Breath, who, on their debut no less, have captured the frenetic riffs and exciting twists-and-turns of Persefone’s writing without ever sounding too derivative of the Andorran legends. Could Last Breath be a breath of fresh air in a time post-Lingua Ignota?
What impresses me most about Echoes of Human Decay is the youthful yet mature songwriting, exemplified by the intro track “Letharsis” and the interlude “Ethereal Ascension.” At least ninety percent of the time bands throw those suckers on out of some weird stylistic obligation—accordingly, they usually sound half-assed—but not so with Last Breath. Echoes begins with rich cello and violin swells that give way to a choral melody, a hype-builder for the “Obsessive Perfection” to come. It’s a very start-and-stop-on-a-dime style of melodeath, with jagged, technical riffs and vocals alternating between the throat-eviscerating highs of Tommy Giles (Between the Buried and Me) and the marbles-in-the-mouth lows of deathcore. The song evolves the natural prog metal way, and after an extended guitar solo section, we’re treated to a mid-track orchestral break into a clean vocal chorus. A more interesting recurrent theme across the album is the never-ending transition between noodly neoclassical riffs (inspired by Mors Principium Est, no doubt) and more rhythmic, tech-y riffs like a more stuttery Allegaeon. Last Breath rarely, if ever, misses the mark when seamlessly transitioning between the endless string of riffs. Other highlights in the songwriting include the front half of “Noesis Dissection”—which builds from the incredibly addictive riffs at 2:40 into an amazing release in the solo section—and the intro riffs of “Inner Desolation.”
Skillful songwriting is nothing without the performances to back it up, and the boys from Culiacán are maestros on their instruments, particularly axemen Adrián Urías and Iván García. They drop filthily shreddy solos all over the place with tech death dexterity— Martin Laija is equally as skilled on bass. The three of them scorch their fretboards, and I find myself anticipating the solo sections more than anything else. Each track has at least a pair of solos from a mix-and-match of the trio, but highlights include those in “No One Else” and “Obsessive Perfection.” Underpinning the strings is Aldo Hernández on drums, and he also does a great job, though he’s a little bit heavy on the blast beats even for me. When he changes it up to more subtle drumming and intricate patterns, he better matches the progressive nature of the composition, though his balls-to-the-wall approach works in more explosive moments like the start of “Echoes of Remembrance.”
While undoubtedly impressive for a debut album, Echoes of Human Decay inevitably falls into the pitfalls most new bands do. Most notably, the production needs some alterations: while the instruments are bright and crisp, especially that bass, everything is incredibly loud, and the elegant progressions get lost in the wall of noise, indicating a need for more restraint. Next, while a couple songs have clean vocals, we need considerably more! The belted choruses work extremely well, redolent of Persefone, but the majority of the album relies on the guitars for melody while the harsh vocals screech and growl away. What old Persefone has that these guys are missing are those amazing sing-along choruses. Guitar solos like these will always be highlights on any project like this, but Echoes of Human Decay is lacking a melodic aspect that I think more clean vocals would provide.
Last Breath have released their album at just the right time to poach new fans, and these guys have the potential to be the best prog band active in Mexico with some fine-tuning. Too loud and a little too acerbic for the melodic force it could be, Echoes of Human Decay is still composed quite well and with a couple virtuosic talents in the making, the stratosphere is these guys’ limit.
Recommended tracks: Obsessive Perfection, Noesis Dissection
You may also like: Indepth, Aeternam, Hell:On, Omnivide, Stortregn
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Concreto Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Last Breath is:
– Adrián Urías (guitars)
– Aldo Hernández (drums)
– Iván García (guitars, vocals)
– Martin Laija (bass, vocals)
