Album Review :
A Plea For Purging - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Band: A Plea for Purging
Title: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Label: Facedown Records
Release Date: July 6, 2010
Review By: Steve
Track Listing:
1. The Eternal Female
2. Sick Silent America
3. Shiver
4. Golden Barriers
5. The Fall
6. And Weep
7. Trembling Hands
8. Finite
9. The Jealous Wings
10. The New Born Wonder
So here we are looking at A Plea For Purging’s third full-length album that also has to follow their excellent previous album Depravity. So, is APFP up to the task to make another album that is on par with Depravity? The resounding answer is YES!
While there was a huge difference between Depravity and A Critique of Mind and Thought, there is not that big of a difference between The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and Depravity. Both would be considered concept albums; however, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is a lot darker than Depravity and APFP throws in some curveballs that the listener will not be expecting.
The whole album has a dark and dreary tone to it, yet at the same time it is relentlessly pummeling to your eardrums. In fact except for a few well-timed interludes in a few tracks The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is extremely chaotic and full of thick heavy riffs and brutal breakdowns. So why is their a dark and dreary tone to the album? Well that dreariness comes straight from the concept that APFP is getting across. According to Andy the concept for the album is, “My God has been turned into a product, an article of commerce. Profit is made off the name of God. Men are being exalted and praised. These are my opinions of modern/American Christianity. As my opinion, I see these things as wrong. I write songs about them! The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is born.”
So what about some of those curveballs APFP throws at you. The first curveball APFP throws at you starts with the clean vocals by Blake in “The Fall” and “Finite.” I would not normally think of clean vocals fitting into any APFP song but they actually compliment Andy’s growls quite well. The second and last curveball thrown at you is a ballad yes I said a ballad. Blake takes over on vocals for “The Jealous Wings.” While “The Jealous Wings” may not have been my favorite track on the album, it does fit in with the concept of The Marriage of Heave and Hell and the album as a whole. In addition, for us headbangers it gives us a chance to catch our breath from what is mostly a purely chaotic album.
My favorite track on the album is the last track “The New Born Wonder.” I love the brutality of the track and Andy’s opening lyrics, “I’m lost without a sound / but I have ears to hear / God, I’m weak and I’m tired / and I want this fighting in my head to stop / they say hang it up young man / they say hate only leaves you cold and alone / I’m too jaded to care but too scared to run / I let my apathy get the best of me / well Jesus if you can heal / I have the ears to hear.” Other stand out tracks on this album due to their sheer brutality and message are “Golden Barriers,” “The Fall,” “And Weep,” and “Trembling Hands.”
Overall: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is excellent! A Plea For Purging has followed up an outstanding sophomore album with another great album. At the same time, they have grown as musicians and a band. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell has shown that A Plea For Purging is not going anywhere and deserves to mentioned with the Christian metalcore elite.