Album Review: Purest of Pain – Solipsis (Self Released)

Dutch melodic death metal band Purest of Pain announce the release of their debut album, Solipsis. Out on March 1st, 2018.

Guitarist Merel Bechtold comments:

“‘Solipsis’ is a guitar-oriented record, is has been recorded as organic as possible: partly at home, partly at Mantis Audio Studio. The song ‘E.M.D.R.’ is written by fellow guitarist Michael van Eck. All the other songs were summoned by myself. The lyrics are written by vocalist J.D. Kaye. And even though the music is at times technical and challenging, it’s undeniably driven by relentless groove, enhanced by hugely melodic passages, wonderful tone and moments of ambient clarity.”

There are few surprises here on Solipsis, it’s solid & enjoyable melodic metal that provides memorable enough heavy riffs, nasty throat-scratching vocals & a melodic tone that is ear-pleasing.

After a fairly slow start, Purest of Pain find their feet with the crunching beat of Vessels, the highlight being the spitting of the vocals & rhythmic drumming.

It’s followed by the head-bangingly wicked heaviness of the excellent Crown of Worms, the unstoppable machine gun fire of tempo changes that is Momentum and the exciting guitar solos of Tidebreaker.

When Purest of Pain get it right, they’re producing some of the best melodic metal around right now.

Solipsis might be 14 tracks long but many songs come in at a very short time making them feel a little pointless. Tracks like The Sleep of Reason come and go in a blur of nothing.

The latter part of the album keeps things moving in the right direction with stonkingly good slabs of metal. Trial & Error is one of the more imaginative tracks thanks to a wickedly good tempo change near the end, Terra Nil is packed with body shaking groove, the title track is a no-nonsense attack and the short melodic finale of The End closes out the album nicely.

Is it perfect? No but it’s a damn good listen!

Purest of Pain – Solipsis Full Track Listing:

1. The Pragmatic
2. Truth–seeker
3. Vessels
4. Crown of Worms
5. Momentum
6. The Sleep of Reason
7. Tidebreaker
8. Trial & Error
9. Terra Nil
10. Noctambulist
11. E.M.D.R.
12. Phantom Limb
13. The Solipsist
14. The End

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You can order the album here and pick up the single ‘Terra Nil’ on Spotify, Google Play, Deezer, via Amazon above & via Apple Music below. You can find out more about Purest of Pain on their website, Facebook and Instagram.