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Purgatory Rites is a split between two American Black/Death bands, California's Fiends at Feast and Wisconsin's Tragic Death. What struck me from the beginning was that Fiends at Feast, a band that has been described as "Blackened Death Metal" employs quite of bit of tremolo picking while Tragic Death, a "Melodic Black Metal" band, goes for more Thrash-based riffing. Ah well, pigeon holes be damned, right?

Both bands break out Death growls and Black rasps none of which falls into the respective "puking" or "tortured" categories so they retain a high level of "listenability" that goes with the melodies hidden among the extreme playing. Atmosphere is clearly as important as melody and both bands effectively create creepy vibes with slower, moodier passages (Fiends at Feast's "Spectral Passageway") and epic, Bathory-like songs (Tragic Death's "The Dissolution of the Clay Children"). I'd like to tell you there's something unique or special about Purgatory Rites but if you've already assumed there isn't, you're correct. Both Fiends at Feast and Tragic Death play decent Black/Death Metal and you can do much worse but there's no real hole in your collection waiting for a release like Purgatory Rites to fill.