EP Review: A Sense of Purpose- The Wounds We Share

Progressive-Metalcore Powerhouse A Sense Of Purpose Explores Loss, Grief, Despair, and Shared Humanity in Their Dynamic New EP The Wounds We Share.

Coming into this year, A Sense Of Purpose embarks on a new chapter with their latest EP, The Wounds We Share. Weaving introspective lyricism and rhythmic cadence, The Wounds We Share explores loss, resilience, and the fragile bonds that hold us together. Concise and immersive, The Wounds We Share builds on the band's slowly growing reputation in the scene as they evolve their emotional depth and melodic immediacy to new musical territories.

A Sense Of Purpose: The Wounds We Share

A Sense of Purpose brings The Wounds We Share’s musical abilities to the forefront as “The Wounds We Share,” “Ruin,” and “Pushing Daisies” bear their creative teeth as urgent melodic guitars and kinetic synths create vortices around impassioned vocals and metal-tinged grit that paints over its technically sound percussive energies. A Sense of Purpose continues to expand this gorgeous progressive back and forth of intricate melodies and aggressive textures throughout the EP, showing the band has considerably grown since 2022’s All The Grief Is Gone.

From here, A Sense of Purpose continues to utilize this rich blend of heavy instrumentation and lush atmospheric soundscapes, finding different and creative ways to showcase the band’s multiple talents. Moments like “On My Own” are where the technical extravagance of A Sense of Purpose’s guitar abilities really shine as guitar riffs have this effortless way in which they almost instinctively know when to turn up their torrid energies and when to pull back and let the decadent melodies breathe within the vocals and drums.

A Sense Of Purpose

Softer points of entry, such as “Save Me,” let some of that technical bombast pull back a bit and let some of the beauty of the band's clean vocals and dreamy guitar melodies take center stage, creating the perfect gateway for a new kind of forceful energy to emerge on “Close My Eyes.” Serving as a closer to an extraordinary listening experience, it is here where a lot of that agitated energy comes boiling to the surface, creating this sort of counterbalance from the melodic flourishes that were introduced in the first track, and brings it all full circle to A Sense of Purpose’s heavier roots.

Although A Sense of Purpose is a brief slice of the band’s evolution this year, the EP demonstrates the band's fierce willingness to engage with vulnerability without sacrificing the intensity of their sound. A Sense of Purpose represents a progression in the band's narrative, reflecting the strengthened interpersonal bonds among members and the upward trajectory that follows adversity. The new EP expands their discography, revealing a broader range of emotional undercurrents within their music while illustrating the diverse techniques that highlight the act's technical efficiency.