Within The Ruins
Creature
6.9
While there are plenty of young acts right now going the Whitechapel/Suicide Silence route of drop A, breakdown-heavy discordance, there is also a fresh batch of death/metalcore bands emerging who have taken a particular shine to speedy, melodic Euro-thrash and twin-guitar dueling aplenty. Within the Ruins fall firmly in the latter camp, and have put their metal chops to the test with their first full-length, Creature. And the results are pretty good. Creature doesn’t have an original hair on its back but delivers a tight, ferociously energetic thirty-eight minutes of technical yet tuneful death/thrash with the requisite ‘core trappings in the form of the occasional breakdown and gang vocal. But even when busting out the old half-step, these guys often forgo power chords in favor of even more bite-sized arpeggio riffs (and thankfully those dissonant, Acacia Strain-style chords which have now become so overused and tiresome are largely absent too). You wouldn’t know it from the inane titles, but songs like “Call Off the Wedding” and “Tractor Pull” not only bring the goods musically by landing a handful of killer hooks amongst the frenzied shredding, but also show some genuine songwriting talent lurking beneath Within the Ruins’ youthful exuberance.
For all its admirable qualities, Creature probably isn’t destined to make much of a splash. Beyond the borderline excellent musicianship and songwriting potential, there’s nothing particularly deep and meaningful about Within the Ruins. Even in terms of the choppy, breakneck style they play, they’ve got nothing on Woe of Tyrants’ recent sophomore effort Kingdom of Might. Still, even if it’s far from memorable, Creature is an energetic and passionate offering that remains good fun after numerous spins. Definitely one of Victory’s better recent releases and one that even haters of anything remotely ‘core might derive some enjoyment from.
