Sophomore albums can be tricky and after soaring high on their debut The Goat, the trio return with a mixed bag of treats. As the Pure Evil name suggests, one can find a through line of esoteric themes prying into witchcraft, occultism and nightly mischief. With the tone of their music, the lyrics comes across with a toying playfulness as they avoid all the cheesy exaggerated tropes usually associated satanic oriented music.
Opening with the sludgy, brooding Shining Star, the band establish the doomy aspect of the records tone, only to curtail it swiftly with The Kiss. The song alone is a masterpiece unto itself. Capturing rays of sun through shapely, hazy riffs, a summery Smashing Pumpkins magic is birthed again. Its quite the contrast as a uplifting song peaked by groovy pinch harmonic riffs and a delightful gleaming guitar solo.
My Offer and Wasted Little Heart continue on, subtly darkening the path, the later offering up some beautifully crafted moments of space for a chunky guitar palm mute to inhabit with its delightful texture. Its from this point on that Pure Evil starts to wain as the moody, brooding side of their sound takes a stronger presence. With less flash and flair from the guitars, the tone increasingly focuses on its own colorful gloom.
This feels emphasized by the vocal harmonization of Norton and Michael, the duo have an interesting chemistry built on honesty and a strained sincerity which excels when the music is bright and colorful. Being slightly off key and raw, they provide an exciting contrast but as the record shifts into a darker string of shadowy, nefariously themed songs, its potency ends up drained and sucked into the rainy tone.
Despite this, there are plenty of exciting riffs, evoking nostalgia for 90s Alternative, Grunge and Metal, always standing on there own legs. Sometimes their ideas don't quite land. The tempo pivot on Wasted Little Heart throws hails to Thrash Metal but doesn't go anywhere. They try a similar trick on Spellbound and land it wonderfully with an epic but brief wailing guitar solo. Its a minor blemish but there are a few two many musical ideas that don't seem to follow up on the shown potential.
All in all, for this listener the theme wasn't enough to spark some magic out of the gloomy tone this record explores. When luminous and bursting with energy the music is captivating. Its dreary side, although wondrous in patches like the dreamy, ethereal, acoustic gloss of Dear John, gets a bit tiring. The riffs stale, the existing chemistry gets stretched. Far from terrible but a half step back in my opinion.
Rating: 7/10