Pure Wrath - Bleak Days Ahead - LP Gatefold Coloured

PURE WRATH were formed 2014 in West Java, Indonesia as the anguished, atmospheric and affecting Black Metal project of multi-instrumentalist Januaryo Hardy.

Year-on-year the raw, visceral and tangible have seeped further into the band’s music, culminating in fourth full-length "Bleak Days Ahead" – a stridently modern and characteristically emotive record exploring the despair of living under uncertain conditions in dismal industrialised environments. The nostalgist now hyper-attuned to harsh everyday realities.

"Bleak Days…" builds wonderfully upon the panoramic and poignant melodies of 2022’s wounded "Hymn to the Woeful Hearts". Utilising a more 'live' and separated production, the band and guests have dialled back the cinematics and upped the dynamics - allowing a varied sound palette including organ, mellotron, throat singing, piano and saxophone to express the sadness in high-functioning depression and the suffocating routines of modern life.

PURE WRATH now hit harder than ever: crashing relentless pressure against reflective reverie, contrasting chordal tension with uplifting melodic crescendos, setting Hardy’s venomous bark against wistful cleans which bounce off the nimble rhythms and boundless energy of drummer Yurii Ciel (STONED JESUS, ex-WHITE WARD).

In the words of Hardy:

"Bleak Days Ahead is a lament for those silently drowning in a life that demands everything and gives back almost nothing."

Recommended if you like: PANOPTICON, WHITE WARD, DRUDKH, WINTERFYLLETH