Scattered Purgatory (破地獄) drop ambient metal fever dream ‘Post Purgatory’
The duo share their fourth album via Guruguru Brain.
Taiwan-based duo, Scattered Purgatory (破地獄), whose name derives from a Taoist ritual releasing souls from the space between life and death, drop their fourth album — and it lives up to the name.
Following three prior releases, including 2016’s God of Silver Grass, the heavy metal-cum-electronic-minimalism group are back with their fourth release. Post Purgatory is a bit gritty extraction-shooter soundtrack and a bit occult-metal masterpiece.
The opening track, Atata Naraka, builds tension — stirring up the sonic sediment into a sludge — before bursting into moments of sporadic, neurotic sax and tribal drumbeats.
Ephemeral Mind, meanwhile, is on the melodic rock end, followed by Thundering Dream, which might as well be the audio recording of a dark, black-robed ritual. Moonquake, a personal favourite, is unlike anything on the rest of the album: cryptic, spoken-word, a touch poppy.
Tracks like KL20 and closer Ocean City, Mirage Tower tie the album together with perhaps its biggest thread: existential liminalism. Across each track, Post Purgatory builds a world that feels labyrinthine and awe-inspiring, yet devoid of any life — at least, anything we’d recognise. It’s an album which offers something new to fans of Scattered Purgatory (破地獄), while ticking every box that made their prior efforts so lovably enigmatic.
Each track here is a carefully placed brushstroke, a soundscape that builds toward a bigger, more terrifying picture. Post Purgatory is definitely not for everyone; the ‘average’ indie fan won’t find much familiarity in this ambient, liminal nightmare. But for those who dare walk the long, abandoned skyways of its world, there’s a lot to enjoy.
Post Purgatory is out now via Guruguru Brain. Buy a physical copy of the album here.
