- Break's first album, Symmetry, owed its strength to its outward-reaching restlessness, not only across several drum & bass subgenres but also in terms of the material and styles it sampled. Littered all over the album were unexpected live instruments, ideas and motifs taken from other genres and soldered onto Charlie Bierman's all-purpose drum & bass. That also meant it could feel gimmicky, anodyne or impotent, though—sometimes wandering off into limp trip-hop territory amid other misadventures. His second album, Resistance, seems intent to fix the problems of the first, and while it still carries Break's spongelike ability to soak up and then wring out influences, it's a decidedly more drum & bass than Symmetry.
The first thing that leaps off the page about Resistance is its abundance of collaborations: over half of the album's tracks have a "featuring" credit. Remarkably, the album holds up even considering all the cooks in the kitchen. In fact, the album is made the better for it. The collaborators spruce up Break's otherwise functional but pedestrian beats, and its best moments come in brilliant instances of synthesis. The Spectrasoul partnership on "Martyr" lashes between dreamy vocal luxury and punishing breaks, while "Salvage" with Nico plays up atmosphere and sound design in a thrashing halfstep template. The collaboration with DJ Die, "Slow Down," provides the record's thundering centrepiece, as a throaty diva vocal rings out in quivering silence before breaks fall from the ceiling like chunks of plaster.
When Break is alone, he's uncomfortably so: While still strong, the solo tracks lack the imagination and ingenuity of the collaborations, and even some of the more experimental moments on Symmetry. Compare the mundane "All That's Left" or "Too Much" to the Calyx & Teebee team effort "Don't Look Down," where a characteristic sampled bassline is wedged into the latter duo's techstep growls. The problem is also partly due to the length: Break gives himself too many chances to go wrong with 16 tracks. It's not as if he's the only one filling up his album to obese extremes, but it's particularly egregious in how it undermines Resistance's success rate.
If there's one thing about Bierman revealed through Resistance aside from his proclivity towards collaboration, it's a love for the human voice. Through actual vocalists and sampled spectres, voices are the album's glue, and when they surround and slide through the relentless metallic gauntlet they provide its most memorable and triumphant moments. The vocals make Break's music accessible without veering into the poppier territory so preferred by big names like DJ Fresh or Danny Byrd. Even if he isn't transcendently great all the time, there's no one else who can combine quality vocals and melodies with uncompromising d&b with such ease. When paired with more accomplished individual producers, there's no stopping him. Resistance is half a great album and half an unremarkable genre workout; I trust he'll find the balance eventually, but for now Resistance is a listen strong enough to comfortably support its weaker moments.
Tracklist 01. Don't Look Down feat. Calyx & Teebee
02. Hold On feat. Kyo
03. All That's Left
04. Dub Scanner feat. Kyo
05. Martyr feat. SpectraSoul
06. Too Much
07. Slow Down feat. Die
08. Salvage feat. Nico
09. Between the Lines feat. SP:MC
10. Conference Call feat. Silent Witness & Survival
11. Recycler
12. Heal Me
13. Time After Time
14. The Only Way feat. Kyo
15. Hold On (Club Mix)
16. Everything Counts