Finally, Crimson Thorns third album "Purification" is available, and the wait was well worth it! The Thorn grinds, blasts, and growls their way through twelve massive songs that have left me very impressed. If you loved "Unearthed" and "Dissection" then chances are you will love this disc. However, I have some friends that hated the first two and think this one sounds awesome. So basically, what I'm saying is that you'd do good to not overlook this album. The opener "Lack of Compassion" is a monstrous tune that makes you want a CD full of just this song. The next tune "Humbled" has some terrific use of keyboards and acoustic guitars and seems to have a very European feel to it. The song "Narrow" is the only song to incorporate clean vocals, however, this decision doesn't come off too well in my opinion. The clean vocals have grown on me a little, but they are still not "all that". Other than that, the rest of the vocals are mind-numbingly intense. To mix in with their death/grind style, the band has incoporated some black metal influences as well which don't hurt the album in the slightest. In addition to musical experimentation, the band also shared vocals duties a little. Andy did the vocals on "Misguided Mercy". Kevin did the vocals on "Meaningless". And Miles did the vocals on "Finding" and "Masquerade Deceit". All of them do a very good job including Luke Renno, who growls it up on all the rest of the songs.
Lyrically, the band pulls no punches with their purification theme. The opener states, The Bible says the world will hate Christians because it rejects Christ/Not because we acted like a bunch of jerks. And "The Word" boldly points out that all the Bible study in the world/Is no good if its not put into practice/Knowing to love others, but showing them hate/Makes your studying null and void.
As far as favorite songs, it's really hard to choose. If I had to narrow it down I'd have to say "Lack of Compassion", "Humbled", "The Word", and "Masquerade Deceit", but heck, all of them are excellent songs.
Crimson Thorn has really put a lot of effort into this release musically and lyrically. They've also improved GREATLY in the production department. The production fact alone will please many listeners since this is the main reason that most metalheads avoided them in the past. This is easily their best and most creative release to date. (Review by Matt)
