2001 is the year a young producer by the name of Breakage exploded onto the DnB music community with an unofficial remix of the Metalheadz classic, "Here Comes The Drums" . Instantly his talents were signed up to Reinforced records and later on with breakbeat science explorers, Inperspective Records and dubwise specialists Bassbin Records. With an impressive history of 12" releases and collaborations it was only a matter of time before his full artistic endeavors would be put on display, with his first solo album entitled "This Too Shall Pass" out now on Bassbin Records.

The album itself is a journey into the deep and mystic sounds of Dub and rolling basslines instead of the chaotic break edits we have come to know and love from his previous works. In CD format, the album comes as 2 discs, with the second being with the added bonus of his Downtempo collections. Despite the huge disparity in bpm counts, Breakage still manages to successfully bring his own flavour on music genres outside of DnB. The album is also available as a 3 pack Vinyl format.

CD1 kicks off with Stomp taking dub to an area he had previously not explored . With Breakages history on emphasising heavily edited breaks, Half time beats was a style I would not have even imagined breakage would even go near. This is great in that he's challenging our perceptions on what he is about. Too often Breakage and his family of break edit conniseurs are stereotyped as one dimensional as well as being falsely painted as nazi's or breakbeat elitists in the industry. Stomp if you werent aware could be mistaken for an Amit tune, but Breakage manages to add his own flavour in order to make it his own sound.

Another highlight is the collaboration with Bassbin headman Rohan. Ruffdub sets the tone on what we come to expect from Breakage. ie Plenty of Dub vocals, obscene use of delays and the tried and tested use of the Amen break. Myself personally will never ever get sick of these particular production techniques, therefore Ruffdub is right up there as one of my favourite tunes of the album. Morning Star and Lead Me On follow in a similar format but with a different use of breaks and vocal dub samples of course. If you are like me, you will never get sick of hearing them.

One only has to listen to CD2 to realise the true extent of his taste and talents. Any criticism of Breakage being one dimensional can forever be squashed with this CD release alone. As mentioned earlier, the 2nd disc is a journey and exploration of breakbeat science at a slower tempo. Hill St opens up with a hip hop flavour waiting for a talented MC to spit on. It still has the dubby feel but manages to bring forth a fair bit of funk to the table. Something i never imagined could be very possible. A Song For The Simple and Strumpet continue on with the Hip Hop feel but a bit more deeper and darker then the effort with Hill St. The highlight for myself personally on CD2 were the Jazzy influenced tracks. One obviously titled Jazzy followed by Meaning of Things and Unireverse. The percussion and drum reminds me of classic St Germain productions with the added bonus of some subtle editing with the breaks.

In conclusion the album is great for those that want a break from the party tunes that is common at most dnb shows and the album is something that Breakage should feel proud of. It successfully showcases his vast array of talents, skills and tastes that crosses the boundaries into other genres of electronic music while still having the Breakage trademark. I originally purchased the album in Vinyl format, but this album is worth buying in cd format as well just for the downtempo tunes which arent available in vinyl format. Here's hoping that a downunder tour happens!

Haji's Rating = 5/5, 100%, ***** rating!

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Breakage - This Too Shall Pass (Bassbin records)
CD1
1 Lead Me On
2 Morning Star
3 Chump Inc
4 Losing Track
5 Ruff Dub (Breakage and Rohan)
6 Shadow (Breakage and SPMC)
7 Untitled Jungle
8 Eve

CD2
1 Stomp
2 Hill St
3 A Song For The Simple
4 Black Sunshine
5 Strumpet
6 Jazzy
7 Meaning Of Things
8 Unireverse