With ‘crosscore’, militant band The Way Of Purity set a new bar for message-orientated music. An unrelentingly hostile barrage of incredibly powerful metal, the band’s indulgence of keyboard passages and ethereal segments, not to mention their masked appearance, drew equal amounts of hostility and love from a bemused public. For some it was easy – the band were written off with a variety of epithets, none of which were appropriate and most of which missed the point entirely, with the band labelled Christian and worse despite the intelligence of the lyrics and subversion of traditional Christian imagery for the band’s own purposes. A tour with Negura Bunget highlighted the fact that the message had gotten through where it mattered most, and with the band’s image (or lack thereof to be more specific) now firmly in second place to their excellent musical spirit and powerful message thanks to recent release of the excellent ‘biteback’ EP, TWOP have unleashed ‘Equate’ – a vicious consolidation of their position and a furious statement of intent all rolled into one mind-blowing package. At 37 minutes ‘Equate’ is not a lengthy album, but instead the band have decided to focus their energies into creating their most concise statement yet. There is no compromise here, just ten brilliantly played and tightly executed slabs of melodic blackened death metal.
Opening track ‘the artwork of nature’ sets the scene perfectly with raging, glacial guitars backed by the band’s typically punishing percussive assault and growled vocals that bark out tireless exhortations against mankind’s aggressive speciesism. It does, if anything, have even more of an impact than the first album because here, even though expectations were high, the band have quite simply upped the ante at every level with the music tighter, heavier and, yes, better than what has come before. ‘Death abound everywhere’ sees the band’s keyboard elements shine through to offer up a subtly electronic feel, although this in no way distracts from the guttural vocals or raging guitars, simply providing a different perspective on the band’s thoroughly hatred-driven death metal stylings. Things take a significant turn with the clean vocals of ‘eleven’ (a track that features the powerful lungs of Giulia Stefani of Ravenscry) which offers close vocal harmonies as a counterpoint to the furious howls found elsewhere, while the guitars form a wall of solid, iron-clad riffing to underscore the band’s elemental power.
Speaking of elemental power – best song and best title must surely go to ‘eternal damnation to Rene Descartes’ – the philosopher who came to the unfounded conclusion that animals could not feel pain and thus enacted live vivisections upon them – an action which, even at the remove of some 400 years, cannot help but make one shudder with revulsion – and the furious rage of the song makes TWOP’s feelings upon the matter clear in no uncertain terms. ‘Keep dreaming’ again exposes the gleaming synth elements of TWOP’s endoskeleton although the bristling armour of guitars and drums keeps the pace moving and the crazed, stair-stepping riff found in the latter sections of the song is nothing short of awe-inspiring, not to mention heavy as hell – metal fans, regardless of motivation, will find an awful lot to admire here… But then that would be to miss the point of TWOP, whose message is, if anything, more important than the music they unleash, and it should be stressed that while it is possible to divorce message from music, you miss out on what can only be considered to be an essential part of the TWOP experience.
‘For all who thrive unheard’ appears to be a song directly motivated by the desire of the band to give a voice to the voiceless (i.e. the multitudinous species ignored, destroyed and damaged by man’s inhumanity) and the riffs collide to lend a melodic edge to an otherwise vicious song – showcasing the band’s versatility even when creating anthems of crushing power. ‘The mighty fall’ featuring another guest performance, this time in the guise of black metal artists Stielas Storhett, has no such melodic edge, with the guitars forming a solid wall of sound behind the guttural, unfathomably tortured vocals that command attention in a way that few other singers manage. One of the longest songs, and a close second to ‘eternal damnation…’ is the melodic ‘the last darkest night’ which works in three parts, initially recalling the majestic beauty of a stream of passion with its clean vocals and stately pace. It’s still incredibly powerful of course– this is no exercise in symphonic or gothic rock, rather it is an impassioned and beautifully written piece that provides some brief flashes of light amidst the deathly darkness of the other tracks before the middle, death-metal infused section kicks in and smashes the mood to pieces. This second section is easily as dark hearted and adrenalin packed as anything else to be found here with syncopated rhythms and discordant guitars suggesting a shift into Meshuggah territory and it’s mindboggling that TWOP have managed to cram such diversity into one song, a feeling further reinforced when the third, electronic movement begins and you start to wonder how on earth the band crafted something so complex and yet so coherent.
‘LIJTY CRJSTY’ is rather more conventional fare – serrated riffs and churning bass – leading us ever deeper into TWOP’s heart of darkness and then we’re drawn to the final track – ‘a time to be small’ which features one last set of perfectly phrased clean vocals to see the album out on a powerful, emotional high.
Truth be told, the people who are going to hate this are the ones who will do so without even hearing a note. The band’s anti-image is clearly a step too far for some people and something that, frankly, should generate no press at all, seems to take far more attention than the crucial twin concepts of TWOP – the virulent anti-speciesism they preach and the remarkable music that they make in order to do so. If this frustrates the band (and it is hard to imagine that it cannot given their recent press releases) then it must be remembered that this superficial and venal obsession with image over content is equally frustrating for the fans who not only have flocked to support the band’s remarkable music but also their important and rarely promulgated message. For further information on the activities of TWOP and their ethos I urge you most strongly to head to their website or facebook portal – either one will help you understand who and what TWOP truly are. The music, meanwhile, is above and beyond anything the band have done before. The key elements are all there, but refined and taken to new levels of skill and aggression. ‘Equate’ is the album TWOP fans have been waiting for, and to miss it is to miss out on a remarkable, skilful and exciting release which proves to be not only adrenalin charged but also eye-opening in the concepts it espouses – few bands indeed cite Rene Descartes (burning in hell, or otherwise) and it is just one example of the band’s intelligent and oblique lyricism. Unarguably ‘equate’ is an essential release for this year and it is a pleasure to have the band back with such a blistering body of work.
Given the eloquence of the band and the importance of their message it seems fitting to return to where we started with The Way Of Purity – with the band’s own words:
“Most militant bands in the past reached a superior level of strength through their message and faith. The Way Of Purity is different. The message about God intended as nature (animals and the perfection of their creation) is our faith, but the power for The Way Of Purity is a high level of inspiration, self control, and correction of human errors through the inspiration of the animal perfection.
We are the hand of God, we’re here to bring the animals’ message to liars, weak individuals, prostitutes, drug addicts, nymphomaniacs and many more. We are not an organisation, we are just a potential event in every animal’s life. The Way Of Purity is inspired by a blind and extremely dark dimension where Christ and Satan, evil and good, are the same. This ultraviolent dimension takes shape in the music. The voices we hear everyday are our nightmares and dreams. These voices asked us to change things, giving us the chance of salvation by becoming the hand of God and finding the real way of purity.
Welcome to the precarious balance and the ancient code of the Way of Purity, that might hold the key to salvation…”
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