Black Breath

Hailing from Bellingham, Washington, the Seattle group Black Breath formed around vocalist Nate McAdams, guitarists F. Funds and E. Wallace, bassist Elijah Nelson, and drummer J. Byrum. Their crust-laden, metal-infused hardcore approach, shaped by Discharge, Poison Idea, and Wolverine Blues-era Entombed—which coincidentally covered the Repulsion track “Black Breath”—quickly turned them into a favored live draw across the Emerald City. January 2008 brought the independent release of their four-track EP Razor to Oblivion; the recording reached Southern Lord, which then issued the band’s debut full-length Heavy Breathing in early 2010. The follow-up Sentenced to Life arrived on the same imprint in 2012, and Slaves Beyond Death appeared three years later.