Blacked Out – Wasted Breath 12″ EP (Thousand Islands Records)

Blacked Out is basically four guys who know each other for years, and they’ve decided to start a band profoundly inspired by the music they’ve been listening for ages. This Vancouver, BC based band has been active for a while. They’ve treated melodic punk rock fans with Life Beyond The Line EP and a debut full-length album called Serena, both currently available at their Bandcamp page for a couple of bucks. Wasted Breath is their freshest material comprised of five ferocious skate punk tracks, heavily infused by notable hardcore punk and thrash metal elements. Still, Blacked Out maintains focus at the melodic aspect of their music by injecting powerful melodies over some seriously substantial riffages. The band starts their sonic explorations with Wasted Breath, a profoundly energetic tune that has been saturated by vigorous rhythms and some seriously incredible thrash metal shreddings. Wasted Breath serves as an opening track that guarantees extraordinary music and loads of good fun throughout the entire material. I Don’t Know is coming up next, and this remarkable track runs at the same pace, but it leans towards classic modern skate punk music. Like a previous track, I Don’t Know possesses some seriously catchy riffs, which are enhanced with thoughtfully arranged lead guitar fills. Vocals are exceptional on this particular composition, and these clean sounding chants simply shine compared to the other songs. If the previous two numbers haven’t satisfied your cravings for some vigorous skate punk music, then Shreddies will certainly blow your listening apparatus to bits. These compositions provide loads of interesting guitar dualities comprised of small solo insertions, which have been cleverly performed by both guitars. These insertions act as small harmonic clusters that will certainly impress those who are looking out for more than classic melodic punk rock songs. In the meantime, the rest of the band provides massive sonic foundations to these guitar improvisations, but the entire band retains compactness throughout this particular composition. Tribalism comes up next, and this number proves my point that Blacked Out doesn’t have any intention to slow down. This conclusion seems to be a positive thing in this case. Tribalism unleashes a comprehensive collection of notable melodies, empowered by massive riffages in the background. Arrangements on this number are utterly insane, the band really nailed with this one for sure. Tribalism also indicates closure of this material by announcing the last track with a perfect slow ending. Wax Professional closes Wasted Breath with gracious servings of thoughtfully assembled melodies. Both guitars are carrying loads of diverse virtuosities throughout the entire composition, bass guitar drenches their dualities with amazing basslines, and precise drumming segments are decorating these shreddings with a brilliant performance. Blacked Out undoubtfully saved best for last, and I couldn’t think of a better closing track than this one. Wasted Breath has been by Thousand Islands Records on color splatter vinyl and digipack CD. It has been published by Thousand Islands Records, but it is also available at all streaming services across the web.