THE LAST MARTYR - Purgatory
Written by: Rod Whitfield - Independent | Friday 3 December 2021
Hella Good!
Wow, just wow.
This was my first reaction upon a very first listen to the debut EP from Melbourne’s THE LAST MARTYR. I saw this band live a few years back, and while I could see massive potential, I felt they still had a little work to do if they wanted to reach the level they were clearly aiming for. Well, now it seems that work has been done, and then some. They have clearly worked their collective arse off, and the abundant and tasty fruits of that labour are there for all to see and hear on Purgatory. They have stepped up their game by several notches, and it’s a joy to behold.
I love it when that happens.
The Review
This band signals its intentions in no uncertain terms as opener Freaking Out veritably explodes from the speakers, establishing their heavy music credentials from the word go. If labels are important to you, you could loosely describe this band as ‘metalcore’, however, there is far more going on here than that. And they prove this, with interest, within the fairly restricting confines of a five-track EP here. Just for starters, the soaring, confident voice of frontwoman Monica Strut sets them apart from much of the male-dominated metalcore crew. Her vocals are probably 90% clean and melodic. What this means is, when she screams, and indeed raps, it really stands out, really makes a statement and an impact.
On top of that, the band plays around with styles and genres, seamlessly and convincingly within the constructs of their heavy and melodic sound, touching on pop, rap, electronic, ambient and more, all within the teasingly brief 18 or so minutes worth of music on offer here. Best exemplified by the mid-EP showstopper Out of Time. Opening with funky guitars, it bursts into a massive, soaring chorus that is sure to get you singing along and thrusting your fists to the sky. It’s poppy, it’s jazzy, it’s rappy, it rocks to blazes and it does all this in a bright and breezy three and a half minutes.
I’d go so far as to say it’s one of the songs of the year.
In fact, the band has managed to inject real character into each of the five tracks on Purgatory. No song sounds like the previous one, they are clearly not writing to a formula as many metalcore acts do. They’ve also managed to achieve ear-pleasing, world-class sound here. Everything sounds huge and slick and powerful.
My only minor beef is that it all slides by too quickly, leaving the listener ravenous for more. Hopefully a full-lengther from this band is in our not-too-distant future, so they can truly stretch out and show us what they can do.
The Verdict
This band is now ready to burst out of the Melbourne scene and take on the rest of the nation and the world, if this EP is anything to go by. I will be watching their progress with much interest.
