{"id":7112,"date":"2012-09-18T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T00:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=7112"},"modified":"2013-07-20T11:56:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T11:56:45","slug":"ep-review-down-down-iv-part-i-the-purple-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-down-down-iv-part-i-the-purple-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"DOWN – Down IV Part I: The Purple EP (2012) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

DOWN
Down IV Part I: The Purple EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nRoadrunner (2012)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The mighty Down return with IV Part I: The Purple EP<\/em>, the first in a four EP series with each one highlighting a specific side of the band\u2019s sound. This EP is billed as showcasing the heavy side of the New Orleans band and, as such, is drawing rightful comparisons to the their classic debut NOLA<\/em> (1995). It is a powerful ride through the raw, stoner leaning side of the band\u2019s sound, sans the screams that Phil Anselmo hung onto early on. <\/p>\n

\u2018Levitation\u2019 kicks off the EP with a thin guitar sound and cymbal heavy drum uprising. It sounds like it was recorded in a garage and, while it\u2019s my least favourite track on the album, many old-school fans will be very excited to hear it.<\/p>\n

The more aggressive \u2018Witchtripper\u2019 is up next and this song really gets me going. It\u2019s got a Black Sabbath<\/a> swagger to it that makes Down sound more dangerous than they have in years. Anselmo really comes alive vocally here as well, varying his \u2018sound\u2019 just enough to make you take notice of his abilities all over again. \u2018The Curse Is A Lie\u2019 is another example of how well they do that old Sabbath style, especially musically. <\/p>\n

\u2018Open Coffins\u2019 and \u2018Misfortune Teller\u2019 are a bit more fist-in-mouth than the others, and the latter is probably the most pissy song on the EP. Its spiralling guitars and pounding rhythms, especially in the breakdown, are downright eerie. \u2018This Work is Timeless\u2019 rounds everything out by throwing a strong jam out there that has just enough melody that you can almost catch hold of it. Almost. <\/p>\n

Overall, this EP is solid, but if you own other Down albums I wouldn\u2019t be in a rush to buy it. For me, all Down sounds about the same and you either like it or you don\u2019t. The Purple EP<\/em> is another solid release from the band with some great moments. If you reject post-NOLA<\/em> Down and have been disgruntled ever since, then this is the EP you want to pick up as I\u2019m assuming the others won\u2019t be to your liking. <\/p>\n

Mark Fisher<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DOWNDown IV Part I: The Purple EP Roadrunner (2012)Rating: 6\/10 The mighty Down return with IV Part I: The Purple EP, the first in a four EP series with each one highlighting a specific side of the band\u2019s sound. This EP is billed as showcasing the heavy side of the New Orleans band and, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,380],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-down"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7112"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13115,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7112\/revisions\/13115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}