The band is comprised of: Cameron Taylor, the screamer who “learned guitar at 14 to impress a girl,” Luke Canon, the lead singer who has sung since being a little kid, Matthew Baxter, the bassist who is “the big guy in the back row,” and Makai Brown, who has been drumming for a decade. It was initially created by Cameron Taylor for the sake of a fun performance to audition for Punk ‘N Pie.
“The second time I met [Cameron], he showed me a song, and then later that day, he showed me another song, and then the next day, he showed me another song,” Canon said. “And to this day, he keeps showing me songs from metal bands…He said, ‘Luke bro, wouldn’t it be freaking sick if we could play a freaking metal band? Bro, it’d be sick as frick.’ That’s what he told me. And I said, ‘Cameron, if you want to do it, then we’ll make it happen.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, frick yeah, bro, we’ll make it happen.’ And that’s when His Last Breath became a thing.”
Interestingly enough, there was pushback from OCE on the idea of a metal band.
“They almost didn’t let us play because they had a problem with the screaming,” Baxter said. “They thought we were gonna shake the dentures out of the old people’s mouths.”
“They thought it was too aggressive,” Taylor added.
“It was two-fold, part of the reason was it was too loud and the screaming, it would freak people out, and they didn’t want to scare people. And then part of it too, they didn’t know what the lyrics were, they didn’t know it was Christian. And so they assumed, like everyone assumes, that it was secular,” Canon concluded.
Through enough perseverance, they ended up being allowed to cover the song “Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape” by Under Oath at Punk ‘N Pie 2025. This obstacle does lead to the question, can metal escape the confines of secularism and be used to glorify God?
METAL
Metal is a controversial genre for Christians, so how does “His Last Breath” approach this nuance?
“It is a heart posture thing,” Baxter said. “I would say a lot of things in Christianity are heart posture things. It really just has to do with what your intention is. You know, I think you could be in a chapel band and go up and play Christian music and have it not be edifying for the Lord if your heart posture is not in the right place…but in the same way, I think, within reason, even secular songs, you can play them in a way that points to our Creator.”
In response to that initial distinction, Canon added, “My first experience with metal, I thought it was demonic because of how loud [it was] and people screaming, and I was like this is not Christian,” Canon added. “But actually, I mean, through Cameron and through Makai, who were both big metal heads, showed me that metal is just very emotional with the screaming, especially, and what’s so cool and what’s so unique about Christian metal is that you are pouring out your emotions and quite literally crying out to God. And I think that’s really, really powerful, and so that’s part of the reason why we wanted to do the song we did, it’s a Christian metal song. We’re hoping to bring Biolans to see that Christian metal is. For lack of a better word, it’s legit.”
Taylor, in a vulnerable moment, shared what sentimental value metal holds for him.
“I grew up in a Christian home. As I got older, I started to go through just harder things in my life, and metal [music] deals with harder subject matter generally more than maybe contemporary worship music. I’ve cried to Christian metal music because the lyrics are really meaningful, and I think it’s often more like poetry than other genres, because it’s not so much meant to be sang along to so much as it’s meant to be like lyrically deep enough to have a meaning and an impact in what the words are, not necessarily how they sound.”
LAMENTATIONS
Diving into scriptural references, members of the band shared their spiritual influences.
Taylor referenced Psalm 130, “I think a lot of times in my head and in the writings of Paul, life is related to a battle and a war. I just really like that image of, you know, like you’re in the trenches looking out for your enemies all night long, and your relief is the Lord. And I think that metal usually puts me more in a military kind of hardcore mindset, and it just makes me think of that.”
Baxter pulled up Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 and shared, “I personally struggle a lot with meaning and attachment to things and purposelessness. And I think it boils down really simply here. Solomon’s on to something, and he says, you’re kind of just here to do the work that God’s given you, to do good for other people, and to eat and drink and be with the people that you love. And the way that that kind of spills over into the music that we do is that it really is just an outpouring of friendship, right, and community. We do it together because we have the ability to. That in and of itself is a gift.”
Canon, who loves the Psalms, found a unique moment of worship in their Punk ‘N Pie performance.
“I’ve played worship music my whole life. I’ve played at my church, I play on a chapel band here at Biola, and there’s something about us playing the song we played, ‘Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape,’ where we cried out at the end, and Cameron was screaming and all that kind of stuff. There’s something about that that felt so much more sincere and matched so much more to lament Psalms…and it was just a cool experience to feel like I was worshiping through the heavy music and the lyrics and things like that. I think it’s right on the money. I think it matches so perfectly with lament Psalms.”
FUTURE
While nothing is confirmed yet, “His Last Breath” is hoping to give one more performance to the students of Biola at “Hopechella.” Hopechella is a currently unconfirmed festival of Biola musical talent that takes place in Hope Hall. In the meantime, you can listen to their performance on Instagram and stream the band Idle Threat that Canon and Brown recommend.