Breathe Carolina - Hell Is What You Make It (Album Review)
Monday, 18 July 2011
Written by Heather McDaid
Breathe Carolina are the prime example of the digital fairytale. Creating tracks on Garage Band for fun then posting them on Myspace took them from making music as a pastime to their more professional status. 2009’s ‘Hello Fascination’ really put the duo out there in the scene, but the question is whether their new release ‘Hell Is What You Make It’ can keep them there.
After the light introductory track ‘Rebirth: An Introduction’ is out the way, the album really kicks off with ‘Wooly’; a synth heavy opening teamed with strong riffs, breakdowns and screams. For those who can stomach electronic music but enjoy a good old fashioned breakdown, this track will cater for both of those desires. Mixing influences that have become more musically relevant of late, there’s traces of dubstep in the likes of ‘Edge of Heaven’, which can be a good or bad thing as – to many – dubstep is a musical marmite.
Their lead single ‘Blackout’ is a notably strong track; undeniably catchy and causes that irritating itch to dance. Designed to have slick club beats, the album certainly ticks the box but it does lack a certain fearlessness to push the boundaries in term of versatility. There’s a strict design throughout that places a club track at the core and mixes in elements of dubstep or a more aggressive rock twist.
‘Edge of Heaven’ is what some would call a welcome calm break in the record, but sometimes it wouldn’t hurt to go full throttle and, perhaps, this is what ‘Hell Is What You Make It’ needed to hit their full potential. ‘Gone So Long’ is a slower track too, yet has a greater quality to it.
For fans of the likes of LMFAO, ‘Sweat It Out’ will probably suit you fine if you are open to the occasional screamo vocal. This is the album’s flaunting factor, but its main pitfall. It has some excellent tracks in terms of beats and creating that dance-vibe but it can feel at points that some tracks are there for the sake of bulking out the dance music. Breathe Carolina clearly have the potential to create some amazing music and – as much as they managed that for part of this album – it feels like the band have not shown their true potential in this record.
Do not take this to mean ‘Hell Is What You Make It’ is a bad album – this is not the case by a long-shot. You can dance to your heart’s content through these 13 tracks, but once you’re done you may feel that there could have been more to certain parts.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
For fans of the likes of LMFAO, ‘Sweat It Out’ will probably suit you fine if you are open to the occasional screamo vocal. This is the album’s flaunting factor, but its main pitfall. It has some excellent tracks in terms of beats and creating that dance-vibe but it can feel at points that some tracks are there for the sake of bulking out the dance music. Breathe Carolina clearly have the potential to create some amazing music and – as much as they managed that for part of this album – it feels like the band have not shown their true potential in this record. 
