In a time when post-metal often finds itself recycling familiar tropes, AUßERWELT's debut full-length album "Breath" is a rare gust of originality — both expansive and intimate, cerebral yet visceral. The Münster-based quartet has distilled over a decade of sonic exploration and transformation into a 63-minute odyssey that is equal parts brutal and beautiful, abstract and deeply human. It explores breath as both physiological function and existential metaphor — a means of survival, regulation, and resilience. It's a subtle but potent thread that weaves through the record's emotional highs and lows, giving the listener room to reflect, resist, and recharge."

The album has nine songs, and "Old Dreams of the West" is first. The tones that greet you with a smile and a handshake are more like an angry frown and a kick in the teeth. The music is weighted, contentious, and thick, and the vocals follow suit. There is a brief reprieve, but only for the sound to return with a vengeance. The title track has solemn tones at first, but plenty of room for anger and destruction, and when it comes, it's like a tidal wave of ruin. The gentler tones are nice, but they also bring a lot of tension, and the sound is held back like an old wooden dam trying to withstand the oncoming water. "The Long Goodbye" begins with clean, solemn tones, but the outright anger and rage that follow is enough to cover the song in black and even red. As the song moves forward, each new note sound like another torturous step.

"Finite/Solitaire" is a short track that allows the listener to catch his breath, and the calm piano tones are in stark contrast with the previous sound. "Whiteout Solace" being again with clean tones, but that tsunami of sound isn't far behind. From there, the song moves purposefully, and with an intense rage that smells like only one thing to me…cold blooded vengeance. "While the Ruins Still Linger" is another song that features a solemn opening, with clean guitars and some calm tones. Although the tones that follow are aggressive and hardened, there are also some melodies that make you long as a listener. "Embers Touching Blackest Soil" paint a desolate picture of hatred and hopelessness. It moves quickly, and cuts with the precision of a razor. The bass notes are thick, and animated, and they add to the depth of this song.

"Eyes to the Sea" features some clean guitar tones that might trick you into thinking the raging desolation is over…but it is far from over. "In the Night's Coating, we Contemplate Hope" is the final song. Solemn, clean tones lead the charge, and it's almost as if your memory is being wiped from some of the pain…at first, anyway. But deep down, you know you aren't getting off that easily. The emotional charge returns, and it's almost too much for the listener to bear. Overall, this album pushes both torture and terror nearly every step of the way. There are indeed time for moment of reflection, but during that time, there is no absolution. It's only a constant reminder of the pain we collectively feel and live with each day.