Puresonic Outcasts - Chasing Shadows

Another new track from Puresonic Outcasts in what’s been a busy year (despite everything going on in 2020), ‘Chasing Shadows’ is an instrumental that still manages to show off their songwriting chops and sense of atmosphere. If you don’t know who PSO are, you can read about them in my last review of theirs (at this link) – it’s only been a month since ‘Demonised Masses’ came out. 

A bass-led intro opens the track amid an ominous wind effect. It gives the opening a calm tranquillity, but with a clear sense that it’s building up to something. The tension is certainly psychedelic, with a desert rock-style quality to it. 

There are no distorted guitars until almost two minutes in, and upon their arrival you hear them grind away under the same pattern as if a sleeping giant is about to wake. And when the giant finally awakens, PSO unleash a headbang-y riff that grooves like early 90s Pantera, but has the trippy atmosphere of bands such as Tool. This song is clever for the way that it lulls you in with the heavy vibe, but the psychedelic sense of mystery that was dominant through the intro is retained, just in a different context as the song breathes and evolves. 

The last, brief passage of ‘Chasing Shadows’ sees PSO ramp up the intensity for a final time to create a big finish. The familiar riff is a variation on the one we’ve just had – transposed down a few frets to make it grittier still – but with all its dreamy elements now replaced by a balls-out aggression that evokes early Metallica. The song ends on a fantastic double bass-led section that makes it impossible not to headbang and grimace, under the influence of the immense power of the riff. 

Simply, ‘Chasing Shadows’ is a masterclass in building up intensity by the new kings of the Northern Irish stoner/punk/metal scene. 

It seems like Puresonic Outcasts are getting heavier with every new single/release. God knows what’s coming up next. 

‘Chasing Shadows’ will be featured on the ‘Chaos Collective: Rituals In Sound’ compilation, to be released through The Swamp Records on November 13th. The compilation features tracks from bands all over the world, such as Protest, Slaves & Bulldozers, Los Vencidos, Slump, and Puresonic Outcasts themselves. If you like your stoner, hardcore, grunge, punk, or heavy grooves, don't miss out on it!

MN

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