Great Faith In Fools

Anyone assuming that New Jersey quintet the Air I Breathe might take their inspiration from the 1974 soft rock hit "The Air That I Breathe" by the Hollies will be seriously disabused of that notion from the first notes of the band's debut album, Great Faith in Fools. (Far more likely is that the name was inspired by the Jieho Lee-directed film The Air I Breathe, released in 2008, the same year the band formed.) This is hard-driving death metal of a particularly energetic sort, with bassist Colin Klika and drummer Greg Diamond's forceful stop-and-start rhythm tracks topped by the twin guitars of Cam Baptista and Jesse Butler. The two guitarists not only fill the midsection with pounding riffs, but also frequently take off into twin lead parts, their fleet fingers and high-pitched, down-the-fretboard diddling sounding like two Eddie Van Halens wailing away. Tony Dougard provides the standard-issue death metal howl, lacing his enraged words with expletives. The Air I Breathe don't waste any time on this collection, usually getting in and out in under four minutes per track, enough time for each aural assault to make its maximum impact before giving way to another round. ~ William Ruhlmann