Following up their last single “Questions”, Chris Rush and his band of “Pure Assassins” have a new offering in the form of their latest single “Heathen” taken from their 2022 album. The track starts as it means to go on with a ferocious 11/8 driving groove displaying drummer Tom Hooper’s amazing percussive skills, while Pablo Uccellatore’s bass locks in with the groove propelling the listener along.
Band protagonist Chris explains that the song tackles the subject of people trying to force their ideologies and world views on others, particularly those weaker than themselves and how corrosive that is. Chris says he didn’t intentionally choose an odd time signature, the guitar riff just came to him in that way and it had a tension and energy that felt like it communicated the message of the song. He really loves that it doesn’t feel obvious that it’s not a normal time signature and so far, no non-musician listeners have commented on it being anything but a driving Rock track – which is what you typically want from a Rock song.
The song switches to a more solid and familiar 3/4 groove for the choruses, providing a counter to the driving insistence of the verses. This helps symbolise the viewpoint of the subject/victim in this song. The song doesn’t have a standard song structure and drops down into a dream-like bridge section after the 1st chorus, with Chris taking the view of someone reminiscing on their childhood dreams and views. This then builds into the drop where the guitar and drums come back hard on the 11/8 rhythm again, epically driving towards the last chorus and outro section.
The outro section layers vocal screams and Tom Yorke-esque presto singing/vocalising; building the tension to its maximum before the song abruptly stops, leaving the listener wrung out as if they’ve just experienced the song’s subject matter for themselves. Chris’s formative years weren’t spent in a Rock/Metal centric environment, so he’s arrived at this project without any baggage of what Rock music contains and subsequently tracks such as ‘Heathen’ point at what Rock could be in his creative eyes.
“Heathen” is Out Now!!
Pure Assasins are
Chris Rush: Vocals, Guitars, Keys and Percussion
Tom Hooper: Drums
Pablo Uccellatore: Bass
Link
https://www.facebook.com/pureassassins
https://linktr.ee/Pureassassins
https://pureassassins.bandcamp.com
Article put together by David Chinery (Chinners)
