If an EP is brief snapshot into the innermost psyche of a band as a collective, then Swiss five piece Voice of Ruin are five seriously peculiar individuals. Or if your twisted idea of paradise is combining wholesome, well-constructed metal with dance music that sounds like it’s been created by Vince Noir after a night on paint stripper, you’re for a treat.
To summarise, out of six tracks, there are three on Consumed that make for a very enjoyable listen. The opening two, I am the Danger and Our Need to Consume are commanding and brilliant tracks. Both consisting of knockout breakdowns, furious fretwork and some mightily impressive growling, Voice of Ruin appear to have distinct Kataklysm vibe to their sound and have succeeded in creating very well produced, entertaining metal.
And then track three happens. Rather delightfully named Morning Wood, the ever dubious combination of dance/electronic music and metal begins to happen. Instead of doing a Rammstein or Rob Zombie and nailing it head on, Consumed resides much more within the realms of that Morbid Angel “album” and makes for uncomfortable and just plain nasty listening. Both Morning Wood (rewritten by Desireless & Operation of the Sun) and Day of Rage (remix by BAK XIII) suffocate Randy Schaller’s brilliant vocals and bombard the listener with agonising and stale dance music, resulting in quite frankly crude attempts at remixes. The Rise of Nothing’s saving grace is that it does open with an infectious riff and has some thrashy undertones, but other than that, avoid.
The Rise of Nothing (remix by SIMPIG) provides a somewhat relaxing respite in the form of some almost Dub sounding grooves. This is in no way metal at all, but it’s a pleasant listen and a track you could lose yourself in if given the chance.
Unfortunately, Consumed closes with its most offensive offering yet The Rise of Nothing (rewritten by Feel a Boom F.A.B). This number batters your ears from start to finish. If you can imagine something equally as catastrophic as death metal meets Geordie Shore, then you can imagine how harrowing this sounds.
Voice of Ruin, you are a very talented bunch of guys who are evidently capable of producing some damn fine metal, so please, for the love of all things brutal, don’t let anyone come near your songs and remix them again. No matter how innovative it may seem, you’re much better with some good old fashion riffs and growls than you are with harsh electro back tracks. Stick to what you’re best at, and keep things metal.
(5/10 Eilish Foxen)
22/06/2015 at 9:30 am
“If you can imagine something equally as catastrophic as death metal meets Geordie Shore, then you can imagine how harrowing this sounds.”
So glad on the album of theirs I covered last year there wasn’t anything like that, just nasty heavy riffs and X-rated lyrics akin to the Bloodhound Gang!