Starchild's three songs provide a thick, warm wall of heavy. The songs all have a sense of groove. Even at their slowest moment they still manage to swing. Contrasted to Starchild�s traditional doom, Rebreather�s strength lies in focusing on one central riff and exploring different variations of it, layering melody with heaviness and topping it all with vocals that switch between rage and anguish.

This is one of the most monstrously heavy releases of the year. Starchild is reinventing Sabbath with an original interpretation timeless in its combination of classic heavy references and up-to-date feeling. Their carefully structured songs, harnessing the hypnotic power of repetition, boast the considerable echoing vocal talents and guitar prowess of Rick Bennett, not to mention the abilities of bassist Kenny O'Bara. He seems to have an intuitive feeling about when to rebel and when to play along. And the drums...ah yes...that Jucifer-like pounding must come from a 10-pound set of mallets instead of conventional drumsticks. That rhythm really brings the doom! But what really sets Starchild apart are the wonderful, spiritual lyrics. They're obsessed with cosmic meaning and almost Hawkwind-like in their druggy abstraction. Starchild's songs on this CD are well matched in their slow, stomping, doomy melodicism.

I really dig Rebreather's brand of heavy, screaming sludge. The sludgey, passionate vocals are still very much in evidence, but there are also some clean, melodic vocals as well. The songs are tight featuring Everest-style riffs. It's easy to see why so many people think that Rebreather lives very close to the heart of the heavy.

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