Starer – Wind, Breeze, or Breath (Review)

This is the third album from Starer, a one-man black metal band from the US.

It’s time for some new Starer once more! After making a splash with 2021’s stellar 18° Below the Horizon, and then following up with last year’s The What It Is to Be, the artist has returned to us once more. Wind, Breeze, or Breath contains 38 minutes of symphonic black metal, divided over seven movements, and it’s quite exceptionally good.

Wind, Breeze, or Breath features Starer’s shortest overall song lengths, demonstrating a more concise mode of delivery for this album. The artist’s songwriting is focused and refined, delivering a new collection of songs that retain the essence of the Starer sound, while also developing it further.

This album boasts Starer’s strongest and clearest production, which allows the material to come to full, vibrant life. The music itself is an evolved version of itself; the aggression is more savage and sharp, the emotions deeper and more keenly felt, the atmospheres more immersive and absorbing, the melodies better utilised, the symphonic elements are further embedded and more substantial…essentially, the artist behind Starer has considerably stepped up his game, and the results speak for themselves.

These new songs are evocative and engaging. The well-crafted music is both luscious and vicious. One thing, (of many), I’ve always liked about Starer is the mix of atmospheric and symphonic black metal that presents both as grandiose synth-drenched mood pieces and blistering scathing aggression. On Wind, Breeze, or Breath these two aspects of Starer’s sound have never been as well-executed as they are here. This is partially down to the more textured production, but mainly down to the songwriting that allows for this balanced interplay between blackened hostility and absorbing, hypnotic beauty. There’s also an increased emphasis, in places, on meaty blackened riffs that propel the music forward.

Each song has its own identity, personality, ideas, and creative flourishes. I like an album that you can randomly enter at any point and know where you are, while also having it exist as a holistic, complete work. Wind, Breeze, or Breath is well-rounded in this regard, and each song contributes to the whole, providing the listener with an experience that’s not one to miss out on.

Much like the music, the vocals are the best yet from Starer. The artist’s screams are serrated and harsh, and his voice fits the songs perfectly. You can also hear the range of his voice better too, as he varies his assault and gets deeper and nastier in places. There are also some impressive and unexpected clean vocals on opener Drifting and on epic closer Returning, which I hope we see more of in the future.

Wind, Breeze, or Breath is the apex of what Starer has given us so far. This is underground symphonic black metal of the highest order, and if there was any justice in the world this album would see Starer gain far wider recognition and renown, as this really is great stuff. This is definitely one to spend some quality time with.

Essential listening.