There is one interesting band from the second biggest city in Ireland called Derry that I have discovered in 2009 and fell in love with. Sandstone exist for 15 years now, and it was formed by guitarist Stevie McLaughlin and the singer Sean McBay. Purging The Past had caught my attention back when it was released.
Playing progressive metal in Ireland is not a common practice, since it is a land of folk and rock performers. Still, we all know that good music knows no limitations, so we shouldn’t be surprised that such a good metal band comes from Ireland.
Their progressive metal resembles Queensryche from the Rage For Order era, and Fates Warning from Parallels era. These bands practically based the progressive metal, even though the credit for it goes to Dream Theater who made it popular.
Purging The Past is a melancholic, emotional and psychedelic effort. Decent, deeply affective and polished vocal of the main singer irresistibly reminds me of Ray Alder, and the instrumental elements are also capable of shaking your emotional core. Acoustic, and the whole atmosphere create a sensible record and make it less dark. You can hear the influences of power-metal and hard-rock as well, which means the set-list is also comprised of hasty, epic and powerful numbers.
The material is convincing, thanks to the prog\heavy riffs bursting from groove. Heavy and hard solos make the record loud, clear and direct, with a lot of charming energy. At the same time, the sound is sophisticated and beautiful to listen to, although choruses are not very memorable. The tempo of the songs is mostly mid-tempo, with few upbeat songs, such as progressive\power Sons of Carthage, that standout as the record’s most electric number. D.O.A. deliver the similar energy with the simple construction.
Enigma and Happy Birthday hide fast intros with synths and hard drums, with Happy Birthday revealing obscure riffs on a trace of Black Sabbath. The closing track, All Operations, is the strongest ballade due to its perplexing structure, perfect acoustic, emotional deliverance, melancholic atmosphere, suited riffs and acoustic solos. Melancholic continuations are also omnipresent in Karma, while Hiding In The Shadows stands as the hardrock pearl of the album. The mix of groove and clean-solo is celebrated in Division.
I still listen to this album. Rock, hard-rock, heavy-metal, power-metal can all be heard on it. The diversity of metal gives it a long-lasting impression.
