Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Purest of Pain is a Modern-‐Metal band formed by Merel Bechtold back in 2008. Since then the band has had multiple line-‐up changes where Michael van Eck, J.D. Kayeand Joey de Boer are the latest members of the band. Purest of Pain won multiple awards (3voor12-‐award for Best Live Act, Wacken Metal Battle) and played the Wacken Open Air festival back in 2014. We also shared the stage with some very big bands like Suicide Silence, Unearth, All Shall Perish, Opeth and many more.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
It's hard to put a label on our band, If I (Michael) have to describe the style it's a mix of Melodic Death Metal (Swedish) with Metal-‐ & Death-‐Core influences and even some Black Metal influences.
A very big influence for the band was In Flames they have everything a band should have. Songs with catchy choruses that everyone can sing, Heavy guitars mixed with very catchy lead melodies & shredding solos. And as an added bonus, our vocalist J.D. Kaye even shared the stage with In Flames once! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBMM33uHSuw (The quality of the video is not that good but you can see J.D. Kaye destroying the crowd with In Flames).
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
I think we can offer something new, something that stands apart from the rest. We offer heavy melodic songs with a lot of diversity on the album. Like I said before, putting a label on us is very difficult. We just play and write what we like! I think our album will be for a pretty wide audience because of our many influences.
What have you released so far and how wereyour releases received by the public/media?
We have released one EP called 'Revelations In Obscurity' and our Single 'Momentum'. We got a lot of nice reviews stating that 'Believe me, this is a quintessential EP for fans of Modern Extreme Metal', scoring 7, 8 and 9's with the EP.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
We have played live A LOT! But for now, we focus on releasing the album and getting everything ready.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
Like I said before, we truly believe we can offer the metal scene something new and different.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
For now, really focusing on our campaign, getting the album out to the crowds and awaiting their response.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can check us out on all kinds of streaming platforms like Spotify but so far only Terra Nil is released. February the 16th we are going to release a new single. To order you can check out our official website: www.purestofpain.com but also the album will be available via iTunes et cetera.
March 2018