This is the third album from US one-man post-metal band Breaths.
Having really enjoyed 2022’s Though Life Has Turned out Nothing Like I Imagined, It Is Far Better Than I Could Have Dreamt, I knew I wanted to check out what Flotuit had to offer. This new album might have a much shorter title, but has a lot longer duration at 65 minutes. Has this extra time been well spent?
The short answer is yes.
Floruit is a multifaceted work that takes aspects of doom, blackgaze/shoegaze, ambient, and progressive metal into its post-metal framework. It’s both heavy and nuanced, and surprisingly beautiful in places. There’s a dreamy quality to the music, especially when the artist’s clean singing is used, that’s disarming and absorbing.
The album is peppered with creative ideas and sounds, used to both round out the main song ideas and to enrich them as they unfold. The songs are well-crafted and have a distinctive character that the artist curates immaculately. While the distorted guitars are frequently quite heavy and direct, the entire Breaths package conspires to lure you into a world that feels atmospheric and immersive in an accomplished way. The writing and delivery is interesting too in that it almost feels like you’re listening to lost and forgotten pop classics given a metal makeover, at least in my head. It’s an engaging and individual recipe for an enjoyable collection of tracks.
The main style of vocal on Floruit is the aforementioned singing, and the artist’s voice is just sublime. Brimming with emotion and used to its strengths, combined with the evocative and emotive music, it’s quite the asset. Harsher screams and growls are used here and there for accents, emphasis, or sometimes as the main style for a section. The vocalist of Cryptopsy also appears on one track, which was unexpected, but most welcome. Even more unexpected is his accomplished clean singing, which is great to hear.
Gorgeous and shimmering, with moments of engaging heaviness and an effortless grasp of emotion and atmosphere, Floruit is a record to fall deeply into.
Fans of bands such as Alcest, Amenra, Cult of Luna, Deftones, Jesu, Monolord, The Ocean, and Pallbearer definitely need to check this out.
Wonderbox Metal 