Thursday, June 18, 2009

Breaker Breaker - Out of Service


Breaker Breaker were what I'd consider to be a "2nd Tier" band of early 2000's hardcore. While I always enjoyed them, they were never as fully realized or as influential as their contemporaries. In fact, you can pick out the influence of their peers in their songs. Luckily, those same bands are among my favorites of the era and my only complaint is that there weren't enough bands playing that style of what a friend of mine would refer to as "tragic" hardcore. Sadly, Breaker Breaker only released a demo (later repressed as a 7" on Bridge 9) and this posthumous EP, Out of Service, for Martyr Records.

Musically, Breaker Breaker rarely tread too far outside the realm of straight forward hardcore, but they write great songs that are fast and pissed with bummer lyrics. What really impresses me is how harsh and desperate singer Mark Kelley's voice sounds. It's unique how every word is strained, seemingly on the verge of collapse and it's even more apparent on Out of Service than their demo. They elevated everything a bit on this EP - the riffs, the breaks and their lyrics. I'm interested to know what direction they would have taken had they continued to write, but unfortunately they broke up before their time. Kelley also went on to sing for Treason, who put out a great demo and seemed to vanish as fast as they'd come.

Breaker Breaker - Out of Service

2 comments:

Mirko Meerwaldt said...

Great band...speaking of which, ive been searching for the lyrics to the Out of Service record for some time now. Anyone can help me out?
Ive emailed guitarist Rusty about this, and he told me even he didnt have them, and that Mark Kelley prob wouldnt have them anymore either...

Stephen said...

Hey, I don't know how I didn't see this sooner, but I don't have them unfortunately. As I recall, they aren't even included in the CD copy. If I come across them, I'll post them for you.