Pvris — All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell: Album Review

Lead singer Lynn Gunn marches through a destructive atmosphere, she fights against the droves of demons which rack her brain, and she tries to overcome the strips of darkness which pummels the light. She’s damaged, there’s no doubt, but she’s an angel, shifting between rooms filled with love and hate. And on new record All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell, Pvris quiver the spines, their output is of struggle, but redemption comes. Gunn sings with pride, she pushes her bellows like red alerts, and she has written lyrics of her broken past, a past blotted in fear.

Pvris’s debut record, White Noise, was a triumphant opener to a fable championed by talent and assertiveness. The 2014 release was incredibly diverse lyrically, with Gunn writing words drenched in realism. She wrote about herself falling in and out of reality, she danced close to oblivion. But, with all this drama, Gunn stuck to her guns and kept herself from cascading off the map. And Pvris has risen to the challenge, they’ve thrived under pressure, aborting the negativity, sticking their hands out and latching onto optimism, but it’s always going to be a slender grip.

All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell is a masterful take on darkness. Gunn bellows out, stripping away any protection on her vocals chords. She means business, saluting her demons, then trying to thwart their plans, their iron fist. With all this hurt and beating destruction, the sound is overhauled by some upbeat vibes, constructed behind Gunn’s vocals of authority. And throughout the record the listener will fall straight in its beautifully orchestrated beat. There’s times when the record goes from subtle to frantic, there’s times when Gunn rapid fires her lyrics at this crumbling world, and then she calms the heat. This creates tension for the listener.

On album opener "Heaven," Gunn sings with alertness and vigour. She spreads her vocals, screaming out in a chorus wonderful in its delivery. Someone has stolen her heaven, snatched it from her broken self. She also sings about suffering, and that’s she’s overwhelmed by a crushing curse. "Who took the light from our life/The light from my eyes? All we did was suffer," she connects the words with despair here.

"Anyone Else" opens with a bright lit and wisdom fueled vibe. But then Gunn tries to confide in someone "Cause I could touch a hundred thousand souls/But none of them would ever feel like home/And no matter how far and wide I roam/You're the only one that I'll ever know." And on the evidence of these lyrics, you can tell she’s invested a substantial amount of time connecting the dots.

On "Walk Alone" Gunn sparks fury, she’s been let down, "Do we have bad blood? Do you feel the burn from my touch?/Darling, I always knew that we were doomed./I stay cold, feel the weight of the world,/Now I always, always walk alone without you." The instrumentals are on song here, intertwining perfectly with the dark lyricism and empowering vocals.

Pvris is a band connected to darkness, stuck to hurt like glue. But they push through and grind away at the obstacles. Their music is greatly appreciated by the disenchanted, people who want to find solace. Their fan base has grown, they’ve grown as musicians, and embarking on sprinkling their muse across a stage they are born to occupy. And determination is a factor, as the band reach for those beautiful stars, as they run wild with their guts intact, with music running through clean veins.