Purest Of Pain

urest of Pain is formed in 2008 by lead guitarist and songwriter Merel Bechtold. After some line-up changes the band was complete in 2010 and ready to destroy. With their first show they won the band competition Gooise Goden in a sold out venue. Early 2011 Purest of Pain got selected for the regional band competition Clash of the Titans. About sixty bands were selected to participate in this non-metal competition. Purest of Pain finished on the second place and won a support show with the Brazillian band Torture Squad. They also won Gooise Goden for a second time in a row, and got asked to replace a band on the Hell On Earth Tour, which included Unearth and Evergreen Terrace. Around the same time Purest of Pain entered the studio for the recordings of their debut EP 'Revelations in Obscurity'. That summer the band played on the open air festival Occultfest with the English band Onslaught. In the end of the year they got praised for their successes with a nomination for the '3voor12'-award for 'Best Live Act'. 2012 started good with a support show for Mayan and shortly after two other sold out shows followed. That year Purest of Pain shared the stage with many great bands, including Attack Attack!, Grave, All Shall Perish, Melechesh, Delain, Cattle Decapitation, Incantation and many more. One of the highlights of 2012 was a sold out show together with Suicide Silence. Later that year they did a short tour through France and they got an endorsement with both Engl Amplifiers and Rockstar Energy Drink. In 2013 the band did another short tour, this time through Austria. Shortly after they shared the stage with the English hardcore band Heart In Hand and they played on the open air festivals Bevrijdingsfestival together with Textures, for a second time on Occultfest and as headliner on Willems Wondere Weiland. In that same period they entered the studio for the recordings of a new single and a videoclip for the song 'Momentum'. This year they got their third endorsement, this time with Bo-El guitars. Mid 2014 the band achieved another highlight in their career by winning the Dutch Wacken Metal Battle, rewarded by playing on the legendary Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. That year the band also played some other shows in Germany, Luxembourgh and Belgium. In that same period they got invited to play at the metal talent event Buma Rocks, which resulted in getting booked for the support slot of Opeth in the Heinenken Music Hall in Amsterdam. Purest of Pain also started working on their debut full-length album, which will be released soon.