Released in 2011, Gaining Purpose Through Passionate Hatred is the debut album by Twitching Tongues. From this first outing, the Los Angeles band led by Colin Young shows a sharp personality, far from the beaten paths of hardcore. The record lays the foundations of a dark and melodic aesthetic that would become its trademark and set it clearly apart from its peers.
A bold first stroke
For a debut, the offering is already singular. Twitching Tongues blends the weight of metallic hardcore with a clean, deep voice, a rare combination that surprises right away. The album title itself sets the tone: solemn, intense, almost ceremonial in its relationship to anger and suffering.
Between hardcore and darkness
Musically, the album alternates heavy riffs and leaden atmospheres, with a gravity that evokes hardcore as much as 1990s metal. The voice of Colin Young, already highly identifiable, pulls the whole thing toward a dark dramaturgy. The songs favor mood and tension over sheer speed.
The foundations of a style
Gaining Purpose Through Passionate Hatred may lack the maturity of the later records, but it already contains all their seeds. You hear a band searching for and finding its path, determined to explore a territory few hardcore acts dared enter at the time.
The first chapter of an original discography, this album is worth it above all for its daring and its budding coherence. It clearly heralds what follows and remains an interesting record for understanding the genesis of one of the most singular bands in American hardcore of the 2010s.
