TODD Purity Pledge

Grunge floats, bloated, like a dog's corpse in the community well. Though we all enjoyed the dog while he was alive, we are now forced to consider that those good times weren't worth the whole town getting bacterial infections. TODD makes meningitis look almost appealing. Purity Pledge makes us think "Well, maybe the whole thing was worth it. Maybe I can stomach more MTV-styled grunge-derived rock, if I can also have TODD to balance it all out." Because TODD, despite strong connections to hardcore and stoner genres, is at their best when taking on fuzzed out 90's rock (the good shit, not the bad shit). The whole thing pushes. There's no half-steppin', no moments of introspection, no time to voice concerns. You could not drive a car at legal speeds to this music. That's where TODD's supposed grind background (the band started as one man's grind hobby, according to the included press) bleeds through to a small degree. There's nothing on this record I'd call grind, but it certainly sounds like the players have done time in that scene. Actually, that may be TODD's biggest strength- it sounds like these dudes have been around EVERY scene. So often I am asked to review albums from bands who's music tells the same tired story- "Listened to radio-punk which opened them up to NOFX, decided that wasn't hard enough to satiate their hormonal drives, somehow that led to metalcore, that led to aping At The Gates, that led to creating an album no one needs to hear." TODD's story, if I had to guess it, would go more like this- "Got into hardcore, liked it a lot, but wanted to be with girls and smoke more weed, dabbled in Tad and Mudhoney, started partying with stoner friends who thankfully were the variety who listen to Earth instead of the Phish type, got burnt out, needed things to speed up a little, got into grind, started working in record store, oddly love The Police." I'm indebted to the film Airheads when I use the term "PowerSludge" to describe Purity Pledge. Bottom Line: Plain good. I don't say that often, but it's true this time. Nothing about this record made me hate life. I don't say that often...