Posted on: February 3, 2011 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

The recording on this demo is a little rough, but when it is compared to the average recording from Greencastle, it is actually fairly professional. For those who don’t know, Pvrenchymv is a progressive-rock band that is incredibly hard to pigeonhole. The first track, “Une” has a myriad of influences pushing through all facets of the track: Korn, Dream Theatre, even Creed all come through. The distortion on the guitars during some of the tracks fuzzes out the entire track. “Empty Head” is like a neutered version of Queensryche, with a strong vocal presence all through the track. Some may say that the vocals are too loud during “Empty Head”, but the levels on this track are perfect, allowing for the guitar solo and tribal drums to stand as equals to the vocals, vocals which are often obscured in rock and metal tracks. Some of the tracks rapidly degenerate into a Spartan wankery, with “Ocular Fix” being one of the worst offenders, trailing off into random instrumentation half-way through and never looking back.

There are times on this demo where the instrumental noodling actually is exciting and interesting to hear; during the beginning of “Impostor”, the guitar and background noise works well together before disintegrating into the typical distortion heard on these tracks. After seeing Pvrenchymv live a few tiumes, what can honestly be said is lacking from this disc is the energy exuded by the band during their live performances. The only track on this demo that could conceivably be said to have even a fraction of that is “Penitent”, which feels almost as if the band is playing in a garage (with sound reverberating all throughout the track). In fact, the music on “Penitent” almost loses out to that reverb, a true tragedy when one thinks that this is the money shot of their tracks.

When one compares this disc to the average fare coming out from Greencastle, Pvrenchymv will probably win a reward for being the cleanest and most coherent. However, when put on a comparison with other bands that play about the same style of music, my suggestion to Pvrenchymv would be to spend some cash and get into Sonic Iguana or another larger studio and properly catch the fury and brutality that I know that they are capable. Go and see Pvrenchymv live before you make a decision on their merits just based on this demo.

Top Tracks: Secret Track, Penitent

Rating: 6.1/10

Pvrenchymv – Demo / 2004 Self-Released / 7 Tracks / [email protected] / Reviewed 26 January 2005

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