A Plea for Purging - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Rating
RIYL
The Acacia StrainAll Shall Perish
Meshuggah
Release Date
07/06/2010
Label
Facedown RecordsTracklist
1. The Eternal Female2. Sick Silent America
3. Shiver
4. Golden Barriers
5. The Fall
6. And Weep
7. Trembling Hands
8. Finite
9. The Jealous Wings
10. The New Born Wonder
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A Plea for Purging turned some heads with their last full length, Depravity, and despite being derivative, the album showed promise and was step in the right direction for the young band. Two years later, the quintet has released The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, another theme-laden grouping of songs that raises the bar from the group’s past accomplishments.
This album is a monster, not necessarily in content but in shear sound. Every song pummels you with down-tuned, rhythmic riffs layered with eerie melodies and virulent vocals. It’s clear A Plea for Purging has grown up since Depravity; these songs are well written with loose structures that keep the tracks flowing but there’s enough differentiation to keep them from becoming stale. Additionally, on Depravity the band really focused on breakdowns, perhaps too much; however, this time around, overall heaviness is the focal point. That’s not to say there are fewer breakdowns, there are just as many, if not more, but they make sense in the context of the songs to the point where you don’t even really notice that the music has transitioned into a breakdown - it feels natural.
Moreover, the band does a great job of portraying a dreary tone on The Marriage of Heaven and Hell; this feels like a full, cohesive album, which is a noteworthy feat for any band. The drab atmosphere painted by A Plea for Purging becomes apparent as the album progresses and “Sick Silent America” really helps to drive that home. A couple of times in the song the music stops, leaving only a dark guitar melody and gut-wrenching screams in the background, which creates an unsettling feeling that is augmented when the music kicks in again. There are many other moments like that one throughout the album, such as the end of “Shiver” and the beginning of “The New Born Wonder,” and although these parts are brief, they’re effective nonetheless.
Besides improving upon past processes, A Plea for Purging also added a new element to their music: clean singing. The first instance of it doesn’t appear until five songs into the album on “The Fall” and the melodic vocals provide some much needed relief from the rest of the music. The singing reappears a few other times on the album and then is fully unleashed on “The Jealous Wings,” which is an entirely sung track reminiscent of Alice in Chains. Many times, adding clean singing can alienate fans but it’s done tastefully here so it should be a welcome addition.
The main downside to The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is that the heaviness can be overbearing at times so the band would have benefited from adding some more songs like “The Jealous Wings” or even an instrumental. Despite that drawback though, A Plea for Purging has crafted a likeable effort that will appeal to fans of heavy, dreary metalcore. With noticeable improvements on every album so far, it’ll be interesting to see what these guys have to offer next time around, but at least we have this release to enjoy in the meantime.
--Nicholas Fritz
Comments
Minnesota
I'm in total agreement, Nick. This album is frickin' heavy as shit and well done. I've been blasting this before all of my ultimate games to get pumped.
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Quakertown, PA
It took me a few listens to realize how good of an album it is and hearing the new Acacia Strain makes me appreciate this even more. It's not easy making a really heavy album that doesn't grow stale but they pulled it off here.
Minnesota
Yeah, I definitely like this more than Acacia Strain. The only other "heavy" album that I've been really into is the new Impending Doom. For as many shit bands as Facedown signs, they do occasionally find some gems.
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London, UK
'scuse my ignorance...but what are ultimate games?
Currently listening to:
Jolly - The Audio Guide To Happiness (Part 2)
Leprous - Coal
Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer
Amorphis - Circle
Hope For The Dying - Aletheia
Best Of 2012 - Best Of 2013
Minnesota
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_%28sport%29
Find me EVERYWHERE:
Quakertown, PA
Facedown has gone downhill over the years. I used to look to them for new bands like ten years ago, but now it's rare to that I find a band worth listening to from them.
London, UK
sounds cool
Currently listening to:
Jolly - The Audio Guide To Happiness (Part 2)
Leprous - Coal
Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer
Amorphis - Circle
Hope For The Dying - Aletheia
Best Of 2012 - Best Of 2013
Baton Rouge
When you said this was heavy, I somehow took it for granted. You are right on the money with this review. This is pretty damn heavy. Awesome.
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/
Infinitely Inwards
Such an improvement over their debut....I actually walked out on these guys at a Devin Townsend/BTBAM concert.....in retrospect, a bad idea.
Cult of Luna - Vertikal
Persefone - Spiritual Migration
Amplifier - Echo Street
Agrypnie - Aetas Cineris
The Flaming Lips - The Terror
Quakertown, PA
Haha thanks man. I try not to throw that term around too much, but the whole album just has that feel to it. I'm glad people are digging it so far.
Minnesota
Since we mentioned ultimate in this thread, check out one of the most amazing catches I've seen in, like, ever from worlds this year: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5414012
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Wisconsin
haven't listened to this that much yet... but it's much better than their first album, and the lyrics are thankfully.. not stupid, like they were on depravity.
the fall&and weep are such good songs. so heavy at cornerstone this year.
London, UK
The fact this is called the ultimate catch was a bit of a give away, but at no point did I really think he was ever getting close to that
Currently listening to:
Jolly - The Audio Guide To Happiness (Part 2)
Leprous - Coal
Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer
Amorphis - Circle
Hope For The Dying - Aletheia
Best Of 2012 - Best Of 2013
Minnesota
Seriously, how the hell does he make that grab. I've been playing in various ultimate leagues of all levels and seen some ridiculous shit, but that was just amazing.
And I'll attribute my team's win last night to listening to some A Plea For Purging before warming up!
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Alabama
I like this album more and more every time I listen to it. The theme is amazing.
Alabama
Oh, and if you haven't seen the video for Shiver you need to check that out!
Baton Rouge
It is pretty awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peCm0_5lRmE
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/
Bronx, New York City
i listen to Misery Index and i love it. i then think that i have finally regained the ability to enjoy super heavy music. i then listen to this and realize that one of two things must be true: A) i do not have the ability to truly enjoy most heavy music or B) this is incredibly boring.
i can't deny that these guys have talent, not only with their songwriting prowess (especially structure-wise) but also their instrumentation is top-notch. thing is, i'm just SO bored listening to this. i don't get it. i'm sure the issue is with me, not with bands of this nature, but i just can't understand how something so intricate, brain-pounding and demanding of one's full attention can damn near put me to sleep.
i'm bad at music sometimes.
--FTTW--
Quakertown, PA
Haha, I think most bands like this are boring as well. The new Acacia Strain, for example, really lost my attention the first time through. It's easy to write off this album in the same way, but if you can make it passed two or three spins, you may found more to like in it. I wasn't into the album at first, but it grew on me with each listen.
Kansas
this is my next album in line to listen to....got a good feeling about this one
http://rateyourmusic.com/~benny06