From All Purity

Chicago-based Indian is a noisy and confusing experience to say the least, but their releases have usually been the product of what seems to be perfectionistic care, and their fifth album is no exception. Taking part of a number of different subgenres of doom metal, From All Purity is done strongly and with plenty of atmosphere. It's an often-atonal, arhythmic, but well-crafted album that is rather rough on the listener's ears, but the riffs and overall sound are worth the abuse. The first track, Rape, has none of the acoustic portions that some of Indian's past tracks have had -- a wall of guitar noise and steady drumming gives way to squealing guitar feedback and shrieked vocals that sound like they belong on an especially raw black metal album. The heavily downtuned guitar is crushing, and the drumbeats keep a beat while sounding like they're just about to stop at any moment, never actually doing so even after the other instruments fade out. The Impetus Bleeds is similar at first, but it's actually a good deal more melodic, with one guitar playing a funereal tune over the verse at times before dissolving into more noise, with riffs of ruined grandeur that remind one very faintly of Warning, or even Pallbearer. Rhythmically, the tracks are mostly slow, but occasionally a bout of faster riffing takes over, such as on the first portion of Rhetoric of Me. What one can guarantee on every track is noise, often harsh and distracting from the main melody, but going perfectly with the vocals. If it's not guitar feedback, it's often industrial noise painted over the already spike-edged guitar distortion for good measure, and on Clarify, noise takes completely over -- no drums, bass, or vocals, though that might be some feedback included -- but other than that, one gets five minutes of what sounds a lot like purposely malfunctioning audio equipment. Disambiguation, the last track, is also one of my favorites. It's still got some noise in the background, and the vocals certainly don't get any gentler, but the ringing, solemn riffs have a darkly purposeful sound to them and a steadier rhythm than previous tracks, as partway through a fiendishly buzzing guitar fades in and then drops out, coming back later for an interesting almost-solo lead to go with the double-kick drumming that shows up every once in a while. There is a lot to like about From All Purity, especially if one is into drone or sludge. The tracks are all different to the point that one can get a definite sense of the experimental nature of Indian's sound even after this many releases, and this album gives the listener the sense of exploring another area of their abrasive world. Whether one is likely to enjoy the more traditional-sounding doom tracks or the noise-dominated ones, there is a good chance one will be able to get into what they've come up with.