Album Review: Spoken – Breathe Again

For a band that has been around for almost two decades, Spoken is a band that is the perfect example of hard work, evolution and dedication to their craft. Going from their early days of rapcore and rap metal to a heavier, more melodic sound including elements from the post hardcore and metalcore genres, the band changed up their style yet again with their latest release, Breathe Again. While every band wants their next record to essentially be their best and truly hit their stride, Spoken does seem to have finally found the sound that they have grown into all these years with this album — a melodically driven rock album full of catchy choruses, heavy hitting riffs and meaningful lyrics that fans will easily connect with. This simple band from Fayetteville, Arkansas has made an album worthy of making them a household name.

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Genre: Rock
Label: Artery Recordings
Release: December 11, 2015
Connect: Home | Facebook | Twitter
Purchase: iTunes
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The album starts off with a chilling and ambient intro track leading directly into the track “Walking In My Dreams.” The track starts off with some catchy hard rock riffs before vocalist Matt jumps in. One of the highlights of the album is the title track, which see’s Memphis May Fire vocalist Matty Mullins lending his pipes.The song starts out with some hard rock riffs coupled with some synth weaved in throughout the intro of the song.  Mullins compliments the song nicely and its no wonder it was the single the band chose to lead with.

Spoken – Breathe Again (Ft. Matty Mullins) (Official Music Video)

Song – Produced by Cameron Mizell @ Chango Studios Video – Directed and filmed by Sam Link @ Collapse Studios. Buy on Itunes: http://smarturl.it/6zfleq Instagram:@SpokenOfficial Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Spoken Lyrics: Are you broken A million pieces inside Your heart wants to surrender Your mind is asking why? Are you hopeless Do you believe you’re too far gone?

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“Matt’s vocals are powerful, emotion driven and their delivery keeps you engaged throughout…”

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The album is a meld of hard hitting, aggressive rock with some ballads mixed in as well. There are moments where the band teeters on the metalcore edge, but they never truly cross that threshold. That works in their advantage due to Matt’s unique and well executed vocals. Matt’s vocals are powerful, emotion driven and their delivery keeps you engaged throughout.  He especially shines on songs “Hold On” and “Take My Breath Away” which are a couple of the more ballad driven songs. Breathe Again totes a hefty 14 songs on the album, with two of them being the intro/outro tracks. Despite this each song seems to keep your attention throughout the entirety of the album, despite some songs blending together at times.

Overall Breathe Again is a solid and engaging experience. It’s has a combination of heavy hitting hard rocks tracks, emotionally powerful ballads, fantastic leads and guitar solos, all of which are accompanied by superb drumming. There is no denying that Spoken have crafted a solid release in Breathe Again. Be sure to pick up Breathe Again on December 11th, you won’t be disappointed!