purified in blood under black skies

Released: 07 June 2010 Label: Spinefarm UK

From 2008’s European Capital of Culture Stavanger in Norway, comes the second album from Purified in blood Under Black Skies. It’s as heavy as its predecessor Reaper of Souls but it demonstrates a more mature depth of complexity in song writing and arrangement.

Commencing with a brief atmospheric scene setting instrumental intro, that at 1.32 is possibly 1.28 too long, things finally get going with the impressive Thunderheads.

I do love a good old peal of thunder on a metal record, there’s just something amusing about a band trying to artificially conjure a dark mood, while you are listening to their CD on a nice sunny day, especially when the songs themselves are more than adept at delivering an atmosphere of doom!

The riffs are decently heavy and catchy, and the progressions sometimes unexpected, especially the understated jazzy bridge on the opener.

The band use dual vocals to good effect, one shouty-crackers, the other a cookie monster, and there’s some decent shouting on Death Priest, which grinds along relentlessly.

Things accelerate into a higher gear with Under Den Svarte Himmel which ia markedly faster than most of the other tracks and has some Nordic chanting thrown in for good measure.

Beneath the Pyre has swirling Deep Purple-esque keys in the background, adding a heavy 70s rock vibe, and Mouth of Doom is indeed as doomy as a song with that title should be, with chromatic descending chords and screeching pick slides.

Scavengers injects some speed into the proceedings again, before embarking on a lengthy and doom filled middle third, that unfortunately peters out towards the end into a bit of a dirge, but thankfully, Blood Drenched is a heavy riff fest, plodding and remorselessly heavy. Don’t be fooled by the eight minute plus song length though, as the last few minutes are merely atmospheric FX akin to the opening track.

The standout cut for me though was Flesh and Frost a no-nonsense, straight ahead, mid-paced juggernaut of head-nodding doom-groove! There’s a nice use of pedal tone arpeggiation during the chorus too, which improbably reminded me of Radiohead’s Street Spirit for a moment. But don’t let that put you off – it’s only a background nuance, rather than the main riff, which steamrollers along quite unhindered by melody. The bridge is an expansively phrased Sabbath-esque progression, bolstered by thudding double kick drums, and subtle keys.

It pretty much nails Purified in Blood’s modus operandi by encompassing all that is good about the band in a monstrous five minute slab of doom.

The sonics on the CD are clear without over-polishing or blunting the grinding, chunky guitar sounds. While the guitarists aren’t exactly lead-smiths as such, with adequate soloing on display here rather than indulgent shredding, the musicianship throughout is solid and the rare keyboard appearances lend a retro-sounding classic vibe to a few of the tracks.

It’s not as brutal an album as I expected, but I guess I am used to the extreme end of the musical spectrum, but it is pretty damn heavy overall!

The atmosphere is dark and brooding and there are numerous sections of pure unadulterated head-nodding purity throughout the album. A marked improvement over their debut, I look forward to their future releases!

by Steven Hargraves