Album Review: Breaths – Death Can Wait (Self Released / Elastic Stage)

Breaths is the Richmond, VA-based passion project of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jason Roberts. ‘Death Can Wait’ is Roberts’ fifth full-length album, and it will be released on June 27th, 2025. It will be available on vinyl & CD through Elastic Stage as well as digital download through Bandcamp and streaming on all platforms. 

As eclectic and electric as ever, Breaths’ bold fusion of genres has always been impressive, but as Jason Roberts grows as a person, so does the project, and what we get is even more creative and adventurous soundscapes.

Beginning in dramatic and heavy style, the album feels weighty from the start as Now We Prey’s cacophony of textured noise arrives. It’s stylishly dark, but what really impresses is how gazey melody sneaks in, and the cleaner vocals mesh with the harsh, scowling vocals.

It’s immersion from the start, and the more the album goes on, the more fascinating it becomes. Especially as The Void showcases more experimentation and deeper melodies that draw from the world of post. It’s fabulous, and one of the best tracks Breaths has ever created. Not just this album, I’m talking overall.

A tough track to follow, but variety is a big component of this record, with Our Rapture’s dreaminess pulsating with different levels of shade and vibrancy. Then, The Ghost Remains brings forth thick doom-infused moodiness with a glorious melodic vein running through it. Before Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds falls deep down the shoegaze rabbit hole, delivering an epic chorus, and showing off some of the album’s best clean singing. It is another firm favourite of mine.

I’m so impressed by this album, not just because it is more high-quality Breaths’ music, but because Roberts is expanding on his sound, while solidifying the parts of the project that are so compelling.

Sadly, all good things must end, and this isn’t an album that hangs around. First, there is The Tower, a track with elegant melody and brutish heaviness. Which is then followed by the finale of Because I Could Not Stop for Death, He Kindly Stopped for Me. Which, happily, is so much more than a cool title, being abrasive and intensifying the experimental aspects of Breaths’ music. It’s not the highlight of the album, but it is still a thoroughly satisfying end.

The best thing from Breaths to date? It could very well be.

Breaths – Death Can Wait Track Listing:

1. Now We Prey
2. The Void
3. Our Rapture
4. The Ghost Remains
5. Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds
6. The Tower
7. Because I Could Not Stop for Death, He Kindly Stopped for Me

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Elastic Stage