ALBUM REVIEW: Catch Your Breath – ‘Not Broken Enough’

Not to sound too mean too soon, but…how do bands like this get so big? There’s nothing particularly exciting about them to set them apart within modern scenes. They’re also not particularly close to any nostalgia wave; you can’t trace any direct influences that far back. Maybe people really just enjoy stagnant, superficially big and emotional alt-metal that serves up exactly what they want every time, no substitutions.

If that’s the case, why? The current age of incuriosity might be depressingly pervasive, but if there’s one thing capable of evading it, surely it’s music. Well, according to Catch Your Breath and over two million monthly streams on Spotify alone, it’s not. This is what connects, apparently, despite being functionally indistinguishable from most US radio-metal. A rifle down the list of former tourmates alone paints a crystal-clear picture—Three Days Grace; Breaking Benjamin; Nothing More; Falling In Reverse. Along with regular appearances at all those American rock festivals that have identical lineups year on year, and you can practically hear Catch Your Breath without even pressing play.

Even the title of this album is eye-rollingly mundane. It’s almost a distillation of everything the band is in itself—emo-touched alt-metal with a pop sensibility, and an openness and vulnerability that stay just on the right side of marketability. And thus, when Not Broken Enough winds up as the exact sum of its parts, the lack of sweeps in like a tsunami. Contaminated is moody and broody before its mid-paced block of a chorus slides into view. Red Alert is equally ‘pensive’, only now Josh Mowery is so clearly and ‘passionately’ yanking the collar of his shirt as he sings. Blood Money then hangs a little lower and heavier, though not to where it’s unfriendly or unpalatable. Are you seeing where this is going yet?

To be charitable, Catch Your Breath do what they do reasonably well. They carry themselves like a big band and it’s evidently paid off commercially. But while you can be amicable and understandable of Not Broken Enough, it’s impossible to be impressed by it. There’s no extra mile gone to or additional distance cleared; this is a band who’ve been born, raised and matured in the exact walled-off paddock they’re in right now. They certainly prove impressionable enough for that to be the case. Every decision made comes from someone else, executed with incredible precision. It’s likely the only reason that Kami Kehoe is on [Gen]inside at all, ‘cause a male / female active-rock duet is a very bankable option to push down the line. It sure isn’t because she’s got a stunning range or is given a role that sees her do anything of note.

At least this is a case where the band in question are giving it a go, which tends to count for something in these circles. The production may be flavourless but there can be a stormier guitar quality that’s alright. It lets Carnivore stomp a little more and tilts The Basement into more powerful formats. Mowery, too, for as prone to over-emoting as he is, isn’t a bad singer, as tends to be the case with most of Catch Your Breath’s ilk. He’s not just strolling through this; there is effort, and if you’re looking for where Not Broken Enough is at its best, it’s with him.

Overall, though, you’re still left with an album that feels exceptionally limited. Catch Your Breath aren’t doing much more than playing to type on Not Broken Enough, constantly and explicitly. And when, upon completion, you’re left with little more than another scoop of radio-rock mulch to slap onto the existing pile, that’s not ideal. As for why this has peaked to the extent it has, it’s still pretty mystifying. Maybe Catch Your Breath really are the beneficiaries of no one being able to tell these bands apart. Or maybe this is the product of safe, unadventurous, highly susceptible algorithms working exactly as intended. Don’t either of those sound just dandy?

For fans of: Sleep Theory, Nevertel, Caskets

‘Not Broken Enough’ by Caskets is released on 28th August on Thriller Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall