Pure Intention

Reviews

Pure Intention Faults and Fallacies cassette

Chicago three-piece PURE INTENTION brings a high-energy jolt of punk-infused rock with their tape Faults and Fallacies, delivering six tracks that range from one to three minutes while channeling a strong Scando influence. It’s a pretty good time, but the tape loses momentum with “Fallacy,” which meanders a bit and incorporates George-fucking-W. Bush samples that I found more confusing than effective. Despite this, the tape is a spirited listen that made me feel like it would be hella fun to watch them play while throwing back some beers at a dive bar. The standout track, “No Control,” is a pedal-to-the-metal romp with fun gang vocals.

 

Pure Intention No S***! CD

First thing is the cover art—it’s a drawing of three dudes, presumably the band members, pissing on a wall. It reminded me of both the Punk Uprisings compilation and the first MASKED INTRUDER album. So going into this, I was prepared for some snotty, probably RAMONES-inspired pop punk. Well, I couldn’t have been more off-point with that assumption. Instead, what I found was what I guess I would classify as “grunge punk”? It’s rocking with heavy distortion, some rockabilly-ish elements, and what sounds like echo effects on the vocals. I imagine this is similar to what it would sound like if Bleach-era NIRVANA played SUPERSUCKERS songs. At first it was a little off-putting, but after repeated listens, it’s grown on me…a bit. Only five songs, so it doesn’t run the risk of wearing out its welcome, although I will say that if they scrapped the first song “Pure Intention” and the third song “George Jesterson” and instead put the remaining three songs on a 7”, I would be way more into this.