The technical prowess of the tech metal quintet Pravitas is on full display in The Parasitic Divine, running the gauntlet of the genre - from heavy hitting pure metal to tracks fitting for a supervillain or Doom-style game.
This project opens with some stunning guitar runs akin to playing classical guitar on an electric, but the drums take over by its follow up 'Delusions of Morality', which stands out immediately from its beginning tracks. Kicking immediately with a thrashy first act, Les Harrison runs his first marathon on the double bass pedals over the first three minutes of this 4:30 minute piece, but by 2:30 the guitar solos have returned to create a metal orchestra with heavy replayability. The fill at minute four scratches an itch in the brain too.
One of our favourite elements of this album is the tracks that feel like they belong in a game as a supervillain's intro music. ‘Once There was Only Dark’ embodies this energy the most: a track made to show off the technical prowess of guitarists Richard Barnes and Joseph Taylor as they trade shreds and bounce off each other, all the while playing with 8-bit style guitar plug-ins. This track sandwiches its hardcore vocals between guitar solos, getting heavier when Sellers is on the mic before rolling back and letting Barnes and Taylor have their time in the sun in a freeflow. This track in particular stands out for how seamless it is, and has to be one of the strongest on The Parasitic Divine overall.
Another satisfying element about this project is how well the names embody their tracks. Exile manages to build tension in its intro and maintain it in such a way that the track feels like a journey into the unknown; there is a level of sneak that brings the images of living in exile into the mind. 'The Crustacean' swings its beat just enough to have a shanty energy around it, and its follow up 'Breakneck' moves at that kind of a speed.
The main critique for this project, however, is that a couple of these tracks come over as filler as the album trucks on. For all that 'Breakneck' moves fast and packs a punch, apart from its speed there is not much to say. Its follow up, 'Hightower', is an improvement with catchy riffs and a floor lead jungle groove on its breakdown, but has steered itself more into hardcore compared to the tech metal offerings in the rest of the project. Its follow up 'The Eye of the World' is forgettable, though the use of the piano melody is a nice touch; none of these tracks are bad, but the initial wow has worn off by this point and the tracks have begun to feel like more of the same.
When this album closes, though, the point of the song names made earlier comes back through 'Monolith'. Working as a culmination of all the elements in this project prior, it begins with a sinister intro and maintains that energy throughout. The midpoint ambience is effective as the midpoint breakdown charges itself, then becomes a breakbeat as the midpoint of the song plays out. The guitarists send it one last time from 3:34 before a refreshing cleaner vocal rings out in the last chorus; the finale breakdown is played safe, but that breakbeat gets to make its return in the finale and leaves the ears satisfied.
Overall, The Parasitic Divine is a well executed exercise of technical prowess - each showing their skills to the highest level while complementing each other with ease. You would not know that this was Sellers’ first stint as vocalist for Pravitas as he fits right into their sound, with his scream working well on the electronically infused and hardcore focused outputs alike. The main thing that keeps this project down is the filler within the second half, and some somewhat bloated track lengths - less of the latter may protect from the former - but this does won't stop us recommending The Parasitic Divine for a listen.
Score: 6/10
The Parasitic Divine was released on March 30th 2025.
Words: Julia Brunton
Photos: Pravitas
Commenti