Cheisrah

Deafbreed

Cheisrah is an independent metalcore band from Bangalore, India, and their debut record, Deafbreed, has sex appeal: wonderful artwork; great album name; effective, professional photography. And while the final coat of paint may look great, the guts of the house, while occasionally succumbing to the generic, have some hot flashes and great movement in their songwriting.

The four-piece outfit falls victim to (or is it they prey on?) a number of the defining metalcore staples, but there are sincere flashes of promise all over this release. For example, one of the breakdowns in the title track, “Deafbreed,” took a lesson from – gasp! – emo, and it totally works. It made an otherwise easy spot to mail in another instrumental and instead made it fun. The breakdown two-thirds of the way through “Skinned” was surprisingly well structured and pointed. I’m really digging the first act of “No More Tolerance,” and some of the transitional instrumentation pieces work really well.

The clean vocals turn out to be a double-edged sword, working as an effective instrument in most places, but occasionally, like when the singing pops up again at the beginning of “Home,” it feels amateur and out of place. (That track in particular seems to lose its way. The outro fails in execution, falling a little behind the beat, loose on the track.)

It’s all right, though, because this isn’t the record that’s going to make or break them, anyway. The truth is Deafbreed is a great starting point for a band on their path. It’s a wonderful foundation that, when release full-length records, even the band will look back on this record happily, but happier with they’ve become. It’s worth your spin.