For anyone who grew up with these bone-breaking genres before expanding their musical horizons, it’ll feel like a return to the days when someone else gave voice to how much you hurt. Purest Form understand that sometimes you need the relentless pummel of a classic industrial-style drum machine, or the sound of a power drill, or the crash of a rock falling down the stairs, just to drown out the extra noise.
“People say that heavy music incites violence, and I think it’s actually suppressed a lot of mine,” Beeson says, before Joyner agrees that the “visceral” force of listening to a rage-filled onslaught of rage-fueled screams has always helped to “silence the borderline [thoughts] in my brain.”
“It stops crazy thoughts in their tracks. Like, sometimes I’ll get caught in a spiral, and I’ll be like, ‘What are you fucking doing?’,” Joyner says, explaining that bands like Nine Inch Nails would keep her calm and centered through an “intense mindfulness.”
Beeson and Woodward continue to murmur in agreement as Joyner adds, “‘Just put some fucking heavy music on and be present.’”