We’ve had this ready to go for a few days, but been waiting the official artwork reveal for the single! Gareth takes a listen to a new band with a heritage in Bristol Thrash back in the late 80’s.

For some, this single is a long, long time in coming, 30 or so years to be a bit more precise. See, where as Trapped in Purgatory are a relatively new band, in reality their origins lie in a band called Purgatory, and ‘Trapped In Purgatory’ are (re)born from the ashes.

Comprising of the ‘front end’ of Purgatory, with Chris on vocals, Jason and Jock (Andy) on guitars, they are joined by ex FourWayKill (Chris was also a former member) drummer Marc and completing the new line-up is bassist Jon (ex-Mercury Rain). ‘Demonicide’ is the first single from the highly anticipated new full length ‘Damned Nation’, due Jan 2021.

Now personally I wasn’t aware of Purgatory until very recently, brought to my attention by UK Thrashers guvnor, Neil, and so I checked out their remastered demos on the 2014 release ‘Demo(n) Days’, which is well worth hunting down.

Anyway back to Trapped in Purgatory and ‘Demonicide’, I’m lucky enough to have heard the whole album and believe me it’s going to be an early New Year treat, and this track is a great representation of the whole album. Driven by Marc’s relentless double bass drums, the guitars at first with a simple chord progression, then Chris’ unique, melodic yet with a gruff edge, vocals cut in, the chorus sees the guitar step up a notch with a cool bludgeoning palm-muted crunch.

The band add some nice dynamics, slowing down a bit and Chris really shows his melodic side. Then there’s a really nice catchy riff with some tasty downpicking mayhem. To round it off there’s a lovely melodic solo before the final verse/chorus. The production is also superb, clear yes with bite, and you can hear every instrument its a very well balanced mix.

If you were a fan of ‘Purgatory’ you’re going to be in heaven, (haha, that’s a contradiction) or if like me were unfamiliar with them, but love a bit of UK thrash, I really suggest that you check Trapped in Purgatory out, you won’t be disappointed. This is truly splendid stuff.

Demonicide is available digitally from Christmas Day 2020 on all the normal streaming services, pre save HERE