HOUSEBREAKING – Against All Odds
The second album from Italy’s Housebreaking is a 9 track adventure into groove metal with occasional modern inflections. These songs have a lot of trademarks of old Coal Chamber, Devildriver, and a pinch of Rammstein – simplistic, low-tuned guitar hooks, repetitive and equally minimalized hoarse vocal patterns, plus bass and drums that hone in that groove/slam combination. It’s not ideal that by the second song "Stolen Life" boredom sets in, making the rest of this 40-minute record tedious to tackle.
Whether it’s the rap-elements in a more death-oriented number like "Misanthropique" or similar low note groove tricks that take "Rise and Fall" to the point of wanting a sledgehammer to eject the song out of your head. The additional aggressive narrative elements that pop in from time to time distract from the musical display. Maybe Housebreaking would have gained modest appeal 20 years previous when this style was in vogue- for now "Against All Odds" just is run of the mill groove metal.
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