Review of Ruins - Atom and Time

It seems like everything out of Australia is great. With their various beers, death metal acts, and stars like Yahoo Serious and Kylie Minogue, should I really be surprised that even their black metal is good? Ruins, a melodic and distinctive BM band with a terminally noisy mix, also hone the percussive talents of Dave Haley (The Amenta, Psycroptic).

Although melodic on the whole, there's far more going on than you might initially catch. Spliced with appropriately used dissonance and tempo shifts, Ruins stay palatable but completely dark. It's got a raw feel, yet an entirely modern sound - I'd have to say this is the perfect production for Atom and Time. Everything is distinguishable without losing the accompanying unprocessed atmosphere. The grating vocals sound professional and also, impressively enough, have a bit of pitch variation. Even the manically fast basswork stands out and moves on it's own adjoining melody, highlighting the song structure by effectively tying everything together. On "Winter", Dave Haley pounds the kit in a hypnotic and repetitive fashion, causing me to almost lose myself for a moment. It's amazing how Ruins convey a lethargic feeling in spite of the furious drumming. Although the riffing slows down, you're never left with the impression that anything's radically changed in terms of tone. "Lightless" is actually the only slow track. Playing a slow brooding drone, a guitar squeals and dives in the background - yet again, furthering the depressing and dreary climate.

This is one of the stronger releases I've heard in a while and Ruins are, if I'm not mistaken, due to release a full length soon. After being teased with a mere four tracks, I'm eagerly awaiting to see where this outfit takes their proficiencies.

Release Details

Ruins

Atom and Time

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