So, my story with this band began in 2006 when I bought Damage’s (guitarist) guitar. He provided me with the link to their homepage and I listened to recordings of Can’t break me and White Faced. Being familiar with Pantera, I made an instant connection with this, and have liked it ever since. The similarities Breed share with Pantera are great, and they’re not trying to cover them either. This album is not only dedicated to Dimebag, Damage even looks like him and uses his signature Dean guitars.

Almost every song of this album follows the same formula. Heavy mid-paced rhythmic patterns, intense and slightly harsh vocals, steady bass-playing, and most important the excellent guitarwork. Damage provides us with groovy and technical riffs accompanied by fast and fun solo-work. The way he catches your ear reminds me, not surprisingly, of Dimebag himself. With his intense singing and sometimes shouting, vocalist Maurice Ross suits this genre perfectly. The vocal-melodies are great for sing-alongs, and it adds the touch of anger which makes this album more or less a complete groove-fest. It’s a shame he left the band, and I think they’ll struggle finding someone to fill his shoes. What makes me prefer this to Pantera is the production. This is modern music, and modern music requires modern and good production. Unlike Pantera, the bass-sound in both the bass drum and the guitar is well represented. The sound is crystal-clear and I’m sure I could pick out every single note played if I wanted to.

The downpoints of this album are few, but they’re there. Fillers like the shitty ballad, The Lucky Ones, the sterile My Anger, and doomish My Fever is not needed. The messy cover of Black Sabbath’s Hole in the Sky wouldn’t be missed either. If this could’ve been a record with 8-10 tracks, this would easily be somewhere in the 90’s for me, but I don’t want to pause my headbanging, thank you very much!

I bet the band will be the first to admit that they’re not original. But who cares? Very few bands plays groove metal this good nowadays, and this is a very enjoyable listen. “Why not listen to Pantera?” you think. Well, you go ahead and do that, while I enjoy some well appreciated fresh blood in this genre.