Catch Your Breath - Not Broken Enough
- Samuel Stevens
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
There is something fitting about an album called Not Broken Enough arriving from a band that has spent the better part of the past few years proving it can hit harder, dig deeper, and expand its sound without losing the emotional urgency at its core. On their sophomore album, Catch Your Breath turns pain, betrayal, isolation, and anger into a polished but ferocious collection of modern hard rock that feels designed to be both cathartic and confrontational.
To be released on August 28, 2026, via Thriller Records, Not Broken Enough finds vocalist Josh Mowery and company leaning further into the darker side of their sound. The band's knack for enormous hooks remains intact, but the album frequently pushes toward heavier territory, with aggressive breakdowns, guttural screams, dense guitars, and an atmosphere that can shift from vulnerable to outright venomous in seconds.
The album wastes little time establishing its intentions. “Contaminated” and “Red Alert” set an ominous tone, building tension before “Blood Money” delivers one of the record's most punishing moments. The track confronts people who exploit others for personal gain, and musically it sounds every bit as furious as its subject matter. The heavier production and ferocious vocal delivery make it an immediate standout, while the song's defiant message gives it the feeling of a rallying cry for anyone who has been pushed too far.
“Carnivore” keeps the aggression alive, while “Control” takes a more emotionally suffocating approach to its songwriting. Mowery's description of giving someone your entire world only to realize you've handed them the keys to your own prison is reflected in the song's claustrophobic mood. It's one of the album's clearest examples of Catch Your Breath turning deeply personal experiences into something listeners can project their own struggles onto.
That emotional weight continues through the following three tracks, “Rewind,” “Lost,” and “Dark.” “Rewind” captures the aftermath of realizing that someone you gave everything to never cared in the same way, while “Lost” strips things back emotionally, focusing on the feeling of losing a piece of yourself with no obvious way to recover it. Finally, “Dark” takes loneliness and turns it into something haunting, centred on the strange experience of missing someone who is physically present but emotionally unreachable.
“The Basement” is another particularly effective moment of the album, surrounding its subject matter with an unsettling atmosphere. The song feels like being trapped somewhere you desperately want to escape, making its message about blame, manipulation, and refusing to accept responsibility for someone else's destruction all the more powerful.
Then comes “[Gen]inside,” featuring fellow rising alternative singer-songwriter Kami Kehoe, which adds another dimension to the record. Its message of refusing to internalize blame from someone who caused the damage gives the album another dose of defiance. Kehoe's presence complements the track's darker energy, helping make it one of the album's more memorable efforts.
Closing out the band's second record is “Hollow Dreams,” which comes on a suitably bleak note. Rather than offering an easy resolution to everything that came before, it leaves the listener sitting with the emotional wreckage. That works in the album's favour. Not Broken Enough isn't interested in pretending that confronting pain automatically makes it disappear.
What makes the album successful is the balance Catch Your Breath strikes between accessibility and aggression. The band understands how to construct a huge chorus and a memorable melody, but they aren't afraid to let the songs become ugly when the subject matter demands it. The heavier moments don't feel like forced attempts to sound brutal; they function as extensions of the emotions driving the material.
Mowery's vocals are particularly important to that dynamic. His ability to move between melodic vulnerability and harsher, more guttural delivery gives the songs a necessary sense of contrast. One moment feels intimate and wounded, the next sounds ready to tear through a wall.
Ultimately, Not Broken Enough is a record about what happens when you've been hurt enough times to finally stop accepting it. Its songs deal with manipulation, heartbreak, abandonment, anger, and self-reclamation, but there is a thread of resistance running through nearly every track. Catch Your Breath aren't simply documenting the damage—they're fighting back against it.
With Not Broken Enough, Catch Your Breath deliver a sophomore album that expands their heavier instincts while retaining the hooks and emotional accessibility that have helped establish their identity. It's dark, melodic, angry, vulnerable, and occasionally downright crushing.
Most importantly, it sounds like a band unwilling to stay inside the boundaries of what listeners already expect from them. Not Broken Enough isn't just a step forward for Catch Your Breath; it's a declaration that being wounded doesn't mean being defeated.
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