Album Review: Oathbreaker – Rheia (Deathwise Inc.)

Combining hardcore, black metal & beautiful vocals to create a fusion of sound that is capable to bring anyone to tears, Oathbreaker’s new album is a contender for album of the year.

Rheia is over an hour long but passes by in haze of blackened riffs, pulse-pounding heaviness, sombre beauty & powerful vocals that seem other-worldly. It’s an incredible listen that increases in potency the longer it goes on.

The softly sung (female vocalist including the black metal parts) lyrical opening of 10:56 is in complete contrast to the brutality of Second Son of R. The differing styles found throughout shouldn’t work. It should sound like two different pieces of music fumbling around with each other like two nervous teenagers about to have sex for the first time. All expectation, plenty of potential but inevitably disappointing & a bit painful!

It shouldn’t work but it does & it does it with ease. Rheia is the sound of a band having perfected a blend of pure heaviness (the screams at the end of Second Son are throat-rippingly insane) & gorgeous melody.

Even when not trying to wreck her vocal chords, the lighter sounding singing fits perfectly with the melodic masterpiece that plays out in Being Able to Feel Nothing. This is the first song where the word ‘epic’ comes to mind. It won’t be the last either as Rheia is a journey that never stops bringing a smile to your face.

Needles in Your Skin is another fantastic example of the Earth-shattering guitar tones, the drumming threatening to blast your ear drums to dust & the gorgeous vocals. Oathbreaker have made it so that each couldn’t live without the other, the essential combination that pushes the album to incredible levels.

Immortals, Where I Live, Where I Leave…it’s song after song of mind-blowing music finishing with the mornful yet uplifting, Begeerte. The music seemlessly sliding from one song to the next with ease.

This is not a album you’ll forget quickly.

Overall Track List:

1. 10:56
2. Second Son of R.
3. Being Able to Feel Nothing
4. Stay Here/Accroche-Moi
5. Needles in Your Skin
6. Immortals
7. I’m Sorry, This Is
8. Where I Live
9. Where I Leave
10. Begeerte