Purified's facebook page appears to
have a bit of an identity crisis. Describing Purified as “a
progressive metal band incorporating elements of thrash, groove,
mathcore, deathcore and even classic rock,” the band's facebook
page gives a reader only a vague sense of what the next five minutes
and thirty one seconds might sound like. Convienently, the “play”
button for the band's only song on facebook is located on the same
page, and seriously, if you are too lazy to move your mouse a whole
four inches across your desk to play the song, you would not have
ended up on this page in the first place.
In
this particular game of genre fusion roulette, I found the results in
my favor. Off of the top of my head, I couldn't name any bands that
have successfully combined more than three styles. I've heard bands
produce heterogenous blends of more than three genres, but when bands
attempt to combine more than three styles some of the styles start to
get watered down. Altough there is some redundancy in Purified's
influences list, this trend holds true with Purified as much as any
other band. I can hear most of the elements the band cites in varying
capacities, but the sound is predominantly groovey thrash metal. The
deathcore and mathcore elements are only really manifested in the
start / stop riffing sprinkled judicicously about “Tension,” and
even then the likeliness is tenuous. The only element that I think is
missing is ironically the element the band itself thinks to be the
wost prominent, prog.
Enough
pedantism about the exact style of the music. I try to be specific
about the genres and styles of bands because a more detailed
description of the bands sound in terms of genre, will offer a better
sense of what the band sounds like than the highly subjective terms
reviewers usually throw around. But, regardless of the label you
stick on Nickelback or Six Feet Under or your favorite band to hate,
they are still going to suck.
Purified
doesn't.
For
the most part, I find that the differences between drummers are often
very subtle in practice. There are very few aurally pleasing beats
and rhytms left to be discovered. This increasing issue with
redundancy puts drummers in a position where perfect timing takes a
backseat to what I can only describe as the attitude with which they
play. Carson's percussion work has a “swing” to it that very
nicely compliments the groove of Gonzales's leads. The bass drums
have a smooth, rolling sound at times in contrast to the crisp lead
guitar. McDonnell rounds out the sound with smoky, slightly wavering
vocals and a strong rhythm guitar that locks step with bass from Seth
Hoyle.
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