The Way of Purity – Crosscore

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Wormholedeath Records
Produced by Without Name & Jeffrey

One thing that can be said of extremist metallers The Way of Purity is that they’ve certainly tried to put an air of mystery around themselves. Aside from current front-woman Tiril Skardal, the band’s identities are unknown, appearing in photos and on stage dressed in balaclavas and military uniforms. Militant attitudes and philosophies shroud the band’s message, which can be summarized as a weird cult spirituality centred around devotion to nature and more specifically animal worship, alongside a very hard-line straight edge and vegan ethos.

A combination of their spirituality and political outlook suggests a mix of black metal and hardcore musical styles, which might not be all that far off. The band’s style is difficult to pigeonhole, but could be described as mixing several different styles (intentionally or not) with elements of deathcore and death metal, and to a lesser extent black metal and outright hardcore. More bizarrely, there is also a clear dose of goth metal as well, especially when the band’s female singer moves from death-like grunting to pure singing. With so many different styles at work, the album name Crosscore sounds very appropriate. But does it work? The answer is pretty much no – as one might expect, this is a case of interesting image, rubbish music – but let us look at this from several different angles.

Deathcore, and other genres that crossover between hardcore and metal, have proven unpopular with metal fans for many reasons, but one key reason that perhaps is the most valid. Many deathcore bands sound much less technical and less accomplished than their death metal counterparts. The Way of Purity are extremely guilty of this. Crosscore shows little in the way of technical skill, offering nothing in the way of interesting or exciting riffs. The music is often limited and feels uninspired. The only noteworthy element are the vocals, which admittedly are alright, but more often than not lack any notable music to accompany them. There’s the nagging feeling that while the band’s sound incorporates many elements from many genres, it sounds almost entirely accidental. Certainly when compared to much more accomplished death metal and metalcore artists, they sound juvenile and underskilled.

That being said, a major part of the band’s identity is in how they present themselves. Similar to many artists in the black metal genre, part of the appeal of the band’s image is the aura of terror and extremity. Unfortunately this image falls entirely flat upon listening to their music. The album lacks a strong atmosphere – what’s worse, is that any kind of atmosphere the band try and conjure is entirely the wrong one for the band’s image. This album sounds extremely cold and mechanical, even suggesting industrial influences. For a band that have tried so hard to identify themselves as being the voice of animals and nature, they sound like the complete reverse. The album also desperately lacks real menace; whilst it starts off well, there is no suggestion of the band’s point of view or manifesto beyond the simple chugging guitars and grunted vocals. The album’s more melodic moments such as The Rise of Noah also fail to really convey the band’s message, and pretty much work against the feeling the rest of the album is trying to project.

This leaves looking at this album from hardcore and philosophical perspectives. Despite the band’s political outlook fitting very well with the much more hard-line philosophies associated with the more extreme ends of the straight edge movement, the band do not have the heart that bands of the genre have. Their music is often too jagged – and sometimes far too melodic – to be something that would work for the mosh, a core requirement of hardcore. Besides, the genre is already crammed with artists composing much better music based on the issues that The Way of Purity are addressing. Even considering their use of melodic female singing in conjunction with their heavier music, the band are utterly outclassed by more technical artists such as The Agonist doing the exact same thing. At the same time, such artists are not polluting their message with image theatrics, quasi-religious suggestion and potentially over-extreme political perspectives. Their very real message is much more clear, and thus better delivered. The Way of Purity’s message is entirely lost.

Crosscore as an album isn’t horrific, but certainly isn’t everything it could be. There are moments where all of this does come together – such as on Deathwish, where the fusion of melody and heaviness finally works, alongside a rather solid hardcore riff. However most of the time it sounds like the band simply aren’t capable of making their own sound interesting enough. The band’s image, as initially intriguing as it is upon first glance, falls apart under further scrutiny. What’s worse, Crosscore itself fails to be an interesting album on its own musical merits. In the end, the album is full of possibilities, but the result in an uninteresting, inconsistent failure.

“ lacks a strong atmosphere ”

Tracklist: The 23rd Circle Breeds Pestilence / Lycanthropy / Anchored to Suffocation / The Rise of Noah / Loyal Breakdown of Souls / Sinner / Egoist / Deathwish / Burst / Pure

Written by James Donovan
More: 2010, Albums, Death Metal, Other, The Way of Purity