Purified In Blood
Reaper Of Souls
7
It sometimes amazes me the lengths some people will go to in order to hate a band. Haircuts don’t mean shit to me, spike your shit to the sky and dye it magenta for all I care, and if you like to wear Motley Crue shirts with girl’s jeans and wide white leather belts, go for it. I might laugh at you, but do what you gotta’ do. Deliver the goods with the music, and we’re cool, man. I just wish there was more information to be found about Purified In Blood, a speedy Norwegian thrash/metalcore band that does in fact deliver the goods with their Abacus Recordings debut, Reaper Of Souls. I just hope they won’t get lumped in with the rest of the trendy many who won’t care about this scene a year from now.
I’m sure there are many who will love to rip on these guys for obvious reasons, but as long as they keep throwing out catchy, kick-ass shit like ”Gates Of Gehenna”, “Possessed By Death” and “Skulltwister” which don’t reek of funky overdone Swedish clone cheese, then who cares? I’ve got no problem with the fact that they would probably politely decline the offer of an alcoholic beverage shared while consuming the burnt remains of a once-living furry thing placed between two slices of rye, but these six guys know their metal, perhaps a little too well, and from too few influences. I wouldn’t call this entirely safe, but these guys certainly do fit a currently immensely popular mold and stick with it, too bad so many other less-capable bands have also tread down this same breakdown laden path. I’ll hand it to them though, the fast stuff sounds pretty damn solid, the slow stuff has a ton of momentum to it, and the structures are actually somewhat memorable.
I’m not trying to spin this as being anything more than very well-assembled, well performed, and very personable modern thrash/metalcore, but there are things which make this band stand out musically such as the very cool solos which sound better suited for more traditional metal instead of galloping, dual-harmonized-all-to hell aggressive ‘core. The multiple vocals are a little commonplace, but the tones of the singers are easy on the ears in a grating, coarse sort of way, a step or two higher than conventional death metal, and with more heft than black screeching, even though there are a few nasty screams peppered throughout. The weird harmonizing during “Venom” is also something cool to hear since it sounds lively in an almost bubblegum sort of way, but the drive of the tune keeps it from sounding poppy. Other than being a little long in the tooth as far as the style goes, the music here accomplishes what it sets out to do, just kick ass, and not much else, for better or worse.
Reaper Of Souls won’t win these guys any originality contests anytime soon, but Purified In Blood are definitely on to something. It’s a shame there are so many of these bands out these days because it really, really takes something special to stand out, which Purified In Blood are on their way to doing, but aren’t there yet. I don’t know how long some of these bands will last by just being average/good, and whether this band will be in jeopardy when the inevitable cleansing comes after the next massively popular metal trend rolls through is uncertain. But for those living in the now, Reaper Of Souls will give you the crunch and thump you’re looking for, but don’t expect fries and a shake with it, much less the burger. Maybe if it’s made with tofu?
