Like Amenra, Oathbreaker emerged from the Belgian underground hardcore punk scene but integrated extreme metal and art music aesthetics.
Over the course of the next two years, the band had begun to gradually write what would become their debut album, Mælstrøm, coming to rehearsal with small pieces and ideas for songs, combining them together.
In July 2011, the album was released on Thirty Days To Nights Records, to small critical press, with above average to rave reviews.
[5] They then spent the latter half of 2011 into 2012 touring throughout Germany with Italian band Hierophant, as well as Northern and Eastern Europe with Rise and Fall, and The Secret.
[23] It has been compared to that of Cobalt[17] and Ghost Bath[18] as well as Deathwish Inc. labelmates Deafheaven,[17][18][23] Converge,[19] Touché Amoré,[23] Loma Prieta,[23] and Planes Mistaken for Stars.
[23] Caro Tanghe's vocals have received attention as a prominent aspect of the band's sound; Exclaim noted that her "higher pitched screams rival [Converge's] Jacob Bannon's, while simultaneously being close enough to a black metal shriek, and desperate enough for screamo"[19] while Stereogum praised her singing, stating it is "often melodic, and multi-tracked, and it gives these gigantic songs greater mass and momentum, as well as humanity and maybe even vulnerability.