Pure Blood Doom

I probably will not shock anyone, but more or less somewhere at the stage of the release of the ep "Seven", the line-up of the Finnish Adramelech broke up again. As before, this didn't deter the group's main brain, Jarkko Rantanen, from continuing his band's activity. Very quickly, in about a year, he invited Jari Laine (responsible for the guitar and bass parts) and Ali Leiniö (as well as Jari + vocals) to cooperate, sitting on the drums position himself. With them in the line-up, and at an extremely fast pace for Adramelech's conditions, Rantanen's group managed to create "Pure Blood Doom" - their second studio album. With its release, the band from Loimaa also underwent surprisingly many musical changes compared to the sounds from "Psychostasia" and "Seven".

From the perspective of a brilliant debut, "Pure Blood Doom" - unfortunately - is quite a disappointment. Sure, it's still death metal on a really high level, solidly polished and with a lot of heaviness. The problem, however, is that the band gave up the deadly atmosphere of "Psychostasia", got rid of most of the "stuffy" riffs (the remnants are actually audible only in "Thingstead", "Spawn Of The Suffering" and "Thule") and - most of all - forgot about their biggest advatnage, i.e. "whispered" growls. Well, Ali's vocals are the most disappointing of this new set-up - they are terribly typical and straight from 9748 other death metal bands which you must have heard earlier. Due to this, "Pure..." seems to be quite mediocre and averagely related to the debut album, despite the fact that it's listened to quite well and it does not bring shame to the Finns. To wipe away tears, the band increased the level of brutality, and at the same time retained catchiness - this in turn means that the material is not boring and can be listened to it without switching the songs. Obviously, this is not enough compared to the magic of "Psychostasia", although it must be admitted that such "Evercursed", "Season Of The Predator", "Centuries Of Murder" (halfway, because then it blurs) and "The Book Of The Black Earth" is still reliable, and ironically!, with lots of interesting themes.

With the release of "Pure Blood Doom", the Finnish Adramelech, unfortunately, has become very common and has lost the previously "stuffy" atmosphere. On their second album, Jarkko Rantanen's group delved into simpler and definitely more friendly (?) death metal. Of course, there is no tragedy, but I myself preferred it when they silted up and shocked with sound straight from the crypt.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2022/06/adramelech-pure-blood-doom-1999.html

Adramelech are best known for sharing a couple of members with Demigod. As a result, some dismiss them as the poor man's Demigod. This isn't totally true, for Adramelech do have a style of their own.

Comparisons have been drawn to a range of other bands from Massacra to Atrocity - though recorded in 1999, the album sounds more like it is from the first half of the 1990s. Basically, the riffs are in a style halfways between eighties death metal and European early-nineties death, but the song structures (the music's "skeletons", so to speak) are far more complex and epic than either of those with each song having a distinct narrative structure.

This combination of dynamy and in-your-faceness is perhaps where the main similarity with Demigod is, but there's a serious difference in tone. Where Demigod is mysterious, Adramelech is martial. The tone of the album is more aggressive and destructive, if so in a disciplined rather than feral way than introspective and metaphysical. "Pure Blood Doom" also incorporates some black metal elements Demigod don't - mostly the entire epic, mythological feel.

The reason this mostly works is that the complexity doesn't ruin the atmosphere or make it difficult to get into. It's not quite as good as "The Slumber of Sullen Eyes" but still worth getting.