Metal Underground.com

Remember the old adage that speed kills? It's occasionally on display on Breakdown's "Time To Kill." In this case, speed sometimes kills off parts of the songs by making them sound too much the same. That's a shame, too, because these Brazilian bashers definitely have some impressive musical chops.

Take the opener "And the Attack Doesn't Stop," for example. It begins with some great slow, almost martial guitars and drums before launching into warp speed. Even in some of the speediest sections of the song, drummer Leandro wisely lets up just long enough to let you catch your breath. There's also an impressive slower section at the end, which features excellent guitar work by Leo, who also takes care of the vocals. Also impressive is the fact that, despite that this band crosses death and thrash metal, bassist Danilo is not only audible, but vital to the band's sound.

Leo's vocals actually remind me quite a bit of Motorhead's Lemmy in spots, in that they're harsh as hell, but still have some hint of melody in them. The problem lies in the fact that much of the time when Leo's singing, the band is playing all-too-familiar warp speed riffs. As I listened to "Time To Kill" for the first time, I started thinking that sometimes the only way to differentiate between the songs was in listening to the slower portions. It took another couple listens to find some of the subtle differences, and I'm not sure a lot of listeners are going to go to that kind of effort.

Still, there are lots of glowing moments, like the interplay between Leo's guitar and Leandro's drums on "War," which has some great stop-and-start moments and a superb solo. I also really enjoyed the super-speedy intro to "Nuclewarchild Victims," even though it seems to be awfully scale-ish. The song also has a great solo.

If you like your metal speedy and raw, Breakdown's "Time To Kill" will kill about 30 minutes of your time. Just don't be surprised if parts of it seem to blur together.