“From All Purity” marks the return of Chicago’s sludge monsters, Indian and this time they’re angrier than ever. Just like their predecessor “Guiltless”, “From All Purity” introduces us to a little more than a handful of tracks, in this case 6, but that are more than enough for the band to violate our ears with its corrosive sludge throughout the 40 minutes that the album lasts.
Once again, Sanford Parker’s production proved to be a valuable tool in the making of this Indian album. “From All Purity” seems to catch the loose ends left by “Guiltless,” but here the band seems to amplify all the hatred they have inside them and have release it to cause the maximum damage possible. The sound on this album is way more abrasive than its predecessor – let’s say it’s more “raw” than the one heard in “Guiltless”. The guitars seem louder and more abrasive, the drum sounds louder as it hits like a sledgehammer, the vocals are simply vicious and harsh enough to create cracks on the floor, and to all of this they add some noise, drone-ish elements on the background that will not only punish your ears but they will only enhance the pain you will feel along this cruel and abhorrent trip that is “From All Purity”.
Opening with “Rape”, the title of this track could not be more appropriate as the band takes by assault our ears with a cataclysmic pace. The abrasive vocals screams through this filthy and sludgy amalgam with repetitive and chastising riffs wrapped in layers of screeching noise and other unpleasant noise samples that resemble static or white noise, which causes some discomfort in the listener.
The way through this road of sorrow continues with “The Impetus Bleeds,” that creeps in with a very slow sludge/doom metal rhythm where seems to be a sort of a theremin sound, but completely distorted, giving a quite daunting aura to the song. This is indeed an aspect we must point to in this album. The band uses samples and other electronic elements that basically have the function to, let’s say…create new levels of pain and discomfort in the listener. As in the opening minutes of “Directional”, it’s done successfully. It all resumes with pure, hard, raw pain here.
In all the tracks, these small electronic “spikes” are always there to torture us. Indian are more fearless than ever and are not afraid to introduce new elements of noise, electronics or drone, if you wish to call it that, to their music.
“Rhetoric Of No” offers us another dynamic, bringing me back to that old Indian sound, heavy and punishing sludge metal, that sets the tone for perhaps the most bizarre track featured on this album: “Clarify”. Pure noise and distortion. A transmission of hatred mixed with despair that creeps over 4 and a half minutes. If played too loud, I bet it will make your eardrums bleed. The album closes with “Disambiguation,” that for me, is one of the best tracks here and the best track to close this great album. It’s a calmer track, which leads us to slow-paced doom territories, dragged between slow and repetitive riffs for nearly 8 minutes as the voice echoes through this scenario of desolation, until, without any warning, it suddenly ends. I must say that this is not the most traditional way to end an album, leaving the listener to think, what the hell? Is the band leaving another loose end here? Is this the closing of a chapter that will continue in a near future? Only time will tell, but until then, listen well, this is a killer album that is definitely the best way to start 2014.
“From All Purity” is available for digital purchase/stream through Indian’s Bandcamp or you can get a physical copy through Relapse Records.
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