The music is heavy and creepy. When horsehair is drawn across gut, it's millions of times more ominous than the heaviest of guitars in the minor-est of keys. You gotta see this band. And it's cool to see the Brew Haus leaning toward more live entertainment. This is a great rock club with a good stage with a cool vibe."
- Rochester City News [click here to see article]


"...Well, I am very happy I went, and my whole family enjoyed it too. The performance was flawless, and I was surprised and delighted at how great it sounded!..."
[click here for the complete article by Chris LaRosa!]


"...in front of a Spot Coffee crowd back in November, the place exploded. People were on their feet applauding and cheering. Each crescendo and highlight and solo was acknowledged with whistles and shouts. ..."
[click here for a complete article in Rochester's City Newspaper]


"Break of Reality (the band), Voiceless (the name of the song) proves that there's NO reason why string instruments can't be cool!!!!!!!!!!  Break of Reality takes 4 cellos  and 1 drum set and turn it into really really cool rock!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-Matan, a very cool 8 year old violinist


"There aren’t that many rock bands that can boast of the cello as its centerpiece instrument. Fewer still can brag about featuring four cellists (augmented by nothing other than one very fine drummer) in their line-ups."
- Buffalo's ArtVoice Magazine [click here to see article]


"Me gusta mucho el tema la melodia esta muy bien llevada y en particular a mi me gusta este tipo de musica instrumetal felicidades."
-A review at www.garageband.com

Break of Reality - "The Sound Between", reviewed by Corbin Keep

     In writing this review, I set a goal for myself: avoid using the "A" word. Which in this case, is Apocalyptica. But see, there I've already blown it. Oh well. These are post Apocalyptica times. That the famous Finnish cello group has influenced Break of Reality, there can be no doubt, however, B.O.R. is much more than an American Apolcalyptica wannabee. Their tunes are well written, consistently interesting, and achieve a near perfect balance between classical string sounds and distortion-box-colored thrashy metal. Yes, there are moments where B.O.R. sounds very much like the Aforementioned; but so what? If you add distortion to cellos in combination and then play metal riffs, it creates a particular sound. No one has a patent on that. Now, consider how many bands there are worldwide with guitars playing metal - thousands upon thousands, right? So I say, bring guitar-less cello metals bands on - lots of them! Especially if they can aspire to be as good as Break of Reality. Their piece Broken (no lads, not a cover of the Pantera tune from Far Beyond Driven) evokes Barber's Adagio for Strings, yet effortlessly manages to integrate distorted celli & drums at the composition's peak. f-ing brilliant. And very, very beautiful. Slipping the "cool rock and roll part" of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps into the otherwise original Circles is beautifully done, and gives me a happy chuckle every time I hear it.

     A few years back, I read about a deal that Kiss offers for their truly "diehard" fans. For a mere $20,000, you can be buried as a member of the Kiss Army, in a coffin decorated with the band's memorabilia and presumbly anything else Kiss related that you might wish to spend eternity with. As Break of Reality are still quite young, I doubt that they have thought forward to creating their own version of this sort of thing, however, when they do, sign me up!

~ Review by Corbin Keep, Newsletter of the New Directions Cello Festival Assoc., Vol. 14, No.1 Spring/Summer 2007

Music review: Cello quartet rocks New Directions fest,
By Edward Ortiz - Sacramento Bee Arts Critic

The cello rock band Break of Reality has serious street cred in two musical arenas -- speed metal and classical music.

In a blistering one-hour set, this four-member ensemble proved that there's more to the cello than meets the eye.

That's the point of the New Directions Cello Festival, which hosted the band Saturday as part of a three-day exploration of all things cello at Sacramento State's Music Hall. The festival proves there's nothing staid about the cello.

One of those points was made by the act that preceded Break of Reality -- cellist Zoe Keating. This intelligent cellist sampled her way through a set of original music, elegantly assembled. Her music has a haunting quality. She gave an intimate reading of the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. It was all the more intimate since all the musical lines were phrased by Keating -- a provocative idea.

But it was the New York City-based Break of Reality that showed how far one can go with the cello.

Cellists Patrick Laird, Christopher Thibdeau and Erin Keesecker were joined by percussionist Ivan Trevino on two 30-minute sets -- the first acoustic, the second amplified. They wasted little time diving in a take-no-prisoner approach to cello playing.

On the original "Solid Ground," all three bowed their cellos as if ripping into power chords. The tone was large and sounded amplified, but the amplification would come later.

The most appealing thing about these musicians is that they're such a double threat. All four are graduates of the Eastman School of Music -- and it shows. They can shred like guitarists, but you know they can ace the classical repertoire. You don't get a thunderous tone and have it stay super-clear unless it's been put through the rigors of conservatory training.

Things intensified in the second half of the set, which was amplified and played with a full drum set.

The band tore through a cover of System of a Down's "B.Y.O.B." That was followed by a red-hot cover of Slayer's "Mandatory Suicide." Here Laird took the lead, his cello sounding like a tricked-out Les Paul.

All three cellists weren't shy about taking the cellos out of the end pin holders and holding them like guitars. Those were played with a power-chordlike fervor.

The apex was the band's cover of Metallica's "Creeping Death." Here Laird attacked the strings with controlled violence. Laird's lead guitar lines were delivered with an intensity that would make Metallica guitarist James Hetfield proud.

To prove that the cello is no wallflower instrument, Laird walked his cello to center stage, knelt and hoisted it behind his neck. He played double stops on the fingerboard while Thibdeau bowed from above.

It was a Hendrix-like moment, and it speaks volumes about what can be done with a bow and a cello.

~ Review by Edward Ortiz - Bee Arts Critic, Sacramento Bee, Tuesday, June 12, 2007