Respire – ‘Black Line’

Releasing an album in December isn’t usually advisable – most publications find themselves distracted by their end of year lists from mid-November onwards, and anything that comes after that tends to get left in a sort of limbo before the new year begins. One album that deserves to rise above this problem and be held up alongside 2020’s best releases is the new album from Canadian “post-everything collective”, Respire. This brash, daring record combines everything you love about classic post-hardcore, traditional emo/screamo and acerbic black metal, and combines them with lush classical instrumentation to create one of the most captivating records of the year. Intro track ‘Blight’ eases us in with ominous violin strokes, setting the stage for the first proper song, ‘Tempest’, t...