While the States and Sweeden offered some of the finest OSDM scenes ever, scenes like The Netherlands or Finland were actually pretty close behind. Especially after mustering bands like Convulse, Demilich or Sentenced, my love for the scene icreased rapidly and I began searching for more bands of the scene. My search only ceased for a small amount of time after I found this band. Purtenance were known as Purtenance Avulsion in their early demo days and decided to leave out the ''Avulsion'' when they released their only full-lenght. This is some great piece of death/doom taking influences from Asphyx and Autopsy. Despite the heaviness of the music there is still some room for melodicism and feeling.
The album starts really slow and you can sense that huge doom influence from the start. Although they sound influenced by the bands aformentioned, they actually took the trademark Finnish, which he dark, rotting and crypticly enchanting feel, and combined it with some of their ownstyles to create this album. The large number of down-tuned doom passages are highly present and the everything done in the intrumental department all sums up to one thing, the evil sound. Purtenance can be as crushing as doomy and evil and totally fill the atmosphere with hulking riffs and and actually a rather smaller amount of tremolo pickings. The guitar tone is extremely filthy and muddy just as the vocals, which are continuesly guttoral and doomy like the riffs. Just like the riffs, the vocals can instantly change speed and all of a sudden become this outrageous beast trying to eat you up. The vocals really have rather black-ish edge to them as they tend to echo during the slower parts of the album.
The album also incorporates a large amount of melody into their riffs, delivered in a melancholic sense. This, I believe is also an important sound of the Finnish death metal sound. While heavily distoted guitars play their doom-laden filth in the background, the melodious and darkened notes fly around and spread chaos and terror. These mini-leads really help keep the vile nature and feel of the album vile, despite being so harmoniously crafted. Something that I love about the album is how it suddenly changes its speed and phase with just a click of the hi-hat. Ofcourse the same thing can be done vice-versa, which is just as good. You suddenly get shock from relaxing to a slow riff then suddenly being blasted off by a powerful slap from a bone-splitting riff. Anything is present on the album, from melodic mid-paced riffage to doomy passages to pounding and punishing double-bass drum assaults.
While Finland offered bands like Demigod, Demilich and Convulse and Autopsy and Asphyx delivered doomy death metal, Purtenance were able to blend them both into something different and much more evil. And not only that, but this hunk of OSDM also offered a fine amount beautifully classy and dark melody as seen in their riffs and their acoustic medleys. If you like any of the bands aformentioned, get this because you will not regret getting!
Highlights:
Deep Blue Darkness
Black Vision
Crown Waits the Immortal
Rating: 90%
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