PURVEYOR is a Melodic Death Metal band from Hanover, Pennsylvania, United States. "Ruminations" becomes their first full-length album. Let's take a closer look at this record. PURVEYOR plays Melodic Death Metal that occasionally trespasses on Groove, Slam, Prog, and Technical Death's territory. The core of "Ruminations" sound lies somewhere close to classic American-style MDM bands like THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER. However, PURVEYOR does not hesitate to diversify the listening experience with some slower and more slamming elements or throw in some Metalcore-like breakdowns or interesting solos here and there. I'm not a big fan of MDM, but the variety of tricks and ideas used in this recording did not let me get bored.

All in all, we're faced with a cocktail of Death 'n' Groove fast fret runs, Math-style "thall" moments, epic synths, deep guttural vocals, atmospheric guitar solos, and more. Most songs on "Ruminations" contain interesting ideas and riffs. Not every riff lends equally good, but for the most part, PURVEYOR manages to please you with complexity and versatility. The only section that I felt wasn't quite there were the drums. They groove when they need to groove and blast when they need to blast, but most time the drums on "Ruminations" do the bare minimum with very few interesting fills or exciting transitions being introduced. The sound of the drum set here is quite plastic, too. I don't know if these are recorded or programmed drums, but I think a little more nuanced drum work could benefit PURVEYOR's sound in a big way and give their rhythm section a more mature feel. Still, it's not like drumming here is bad, not at all. It does the job. Aside from that, the sound on the album is pretty good. Instruments are well audible, vocals sound good, and various stylistic implementations sound organic. The mix sounds readable and fat, the guitars and bass are perfectly balanced, and the synths are well-implemented and give a more modern and progressive touch to PURVEYOR's music. The drums don't sound very natural and the vocals are a bit louder than they should be. However, this is already a matter of taste.

If I was to pick a song from this record, then I would choose "Leviathan" and "Black Holes". It seems to me that these two compositions came out almost perfect. As for the rest, it feels like PURVEYOR might still need a little time to come up with what is defined as its "own sound", but this band already does many things right. For a debut album "Ruminations" sounds quite well and leaves a generally favorable impression.