Faces of Sara- Impurity

Blending elements of gothic and heavy alternative rock, Faces of Sarah's 5-song Impurity EP serves up about half an hour of powerful, metal-infused dark modern rock and danceable melodic goth rock with a sometimes distant but noticeable The Mission influence. Combining a bass-driven, guitar-heavy sound with often subtle underlying electronics and steady drums, the band weaves a web around vocalist Nick Schultz, whose delivery ranges from soaring, guttural goth rock vocals to an effective albeit more contrived and slightly Manson-eque timbre/inflection on the verse of "Now That It's Over". With strong performances and a penchant for epic theatricality, Impurity is a fairly solid slice of modern goth rock wrapped up in a well-produced package.

Opening with its title track, an up-tempo, bass-driven energetic rock number with soaring lead guitar, the disc then flows to the heavier "Now That It's Over", anchored by great distorted riffing and a semi-catchy epic chorus. "Song for Kali" is another fast dark goth rocker with a spectacular chorus, while "All I Want" serves as the disc's obligatory ballad, an excellent track carried by electronic drums and light guitars and highlighted by a heavier chorus before a lovely piano/string outro. "Keep Breathing" ends the disc on another louder note, upping the tempo yet again for another club-friendly, bass-centered goth rock track featuring a killer interlude accented by electronic arpeggios.

It'll be interesting to see what the future holds in store for Faces of Sarah, with a new full-length apparently on the way. For now, however, Impurity's blend of intense, melodic goth rock is a rather good taster.