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Hardcore from the Heartland. I love it.

One does not think of Des Moines, Iowa as being a musical hotbed of anything that wouldn’t have gotten played on Midwest Hayride, right? Such an attitude is provincial and prejudicial, however, given that Slipknot, no less, hails from those environs. Too Pure To Die proves on Confidence and Consequence, their debut CD, that such origins are not an anomaly. As with most bands seemingly coming from out of nowhere, Too Pure To Die is anything but an overnight sensation, having existed in various forms since 2002. Confidence and Consequence itself was released in a somewhat different form in 2006; the current version includes some re-recording and a previously unreleased track--- a bonus track, Our Only Chance --- resulting in, overall, a stronger, leaner, and --- need I say it? --- meaner release.

Confidence and Consequence is for the most part music to wake up to --- wide awake up --- but the band has been careful, through sequencing and composition execution, to keep the tracks from sliding into each other. Indeed, two of my favorite tracks at the moment --- Dead To Me and All In A Day --- follow one after the other, onslaughts of different natures. One way in which Too Pure To Die manages this is to keep each composition relatively brief, with most of them clocking in comfortably around the three minute mark. Hardcore is not high opera, and aggro rock is most effective in shorter effective thrusts than long blitzkriegs that leave the listener exhausted. Limiting the track list to ten songs is a plus as well. A dilemma that bands face is whether to fill all 80 minutes of a CD. The answer in short is no. Here, Confidence and Consequence leaves one wanting more, even as Our Only Chance, the last, uncredited track, ends abruptly.

Too Pure To Die is about to begin an ambitious European tour in February 2008, to be followed by the release of a second full length in the summer and, no doubt, more touring. By that time you’ll no doubt be reading, and hearing, of them all over the place. Confidence and Consequence, however, is a wonderful place to start.