I’m not sure you can really characterise a seven-year hiatus as an “elapse” but I can forgive For Ruin, given that the Irish band were one of the very first that I reviewed many, many years ago. Essentially a project of the talented John Murphy, For Ruin have been producing music since 2004. John plays in a variety of other bands, but his particular love for earlier Katatonia, Paradise Lost and obscure mid 90’s takes on Scandinavian death metal all make their appearances known here.

Starting with atmospheric (and furious) opener “Elapse”, we are presented with the single from the EP, “Fuel to the Fire”. The trademark For Ruin sound is still very much intact; atmospheric melodic death metal with more than hint of melancholy to it. Perhaps nestling somewhere between Katatonia circa “Brave Murder Day”, but with some of the energy and fury of The Crown sat alongside, perhaps the biggest eyebrow raiser is the inclusion of a couple of lines of clean vocals to go with the more traditional hoarse rasping singing. The main melody is infectious, and has had me humming it to myself at work over the last couple of weeks.

“The Worm Turned” comes next, with an introduction heavy in military marching style drum beats, and a guitar melody that may have at one point been friendly with Iron Maiden’s “To Tame a Land”. Once the song opens up, there’s some really great progressive stuff to be found there, with the musical envelope being pushed somewhere akin to Death around the time of The Sound of Perseverance, but with that trademark melancholic guitar work weaving in and out between the gaps.

Closer “The Measure of a Man”, which features long-time associate of the band, Pete Lawlor on bass, is a reflective piece which opens with some chiming axe work, and almost choral clean vocals. At five minutes plus, it’s the longest track on the EP, and a really mature piece of work, sitting as one of the best that For Ruin has ever put out.

The whole EP is For Ruin sounding at their absolute best. Whether this is down to the studio being refurbed before recording, or whether it’s the talents of The Crown’s Marko being responsible for doing the mastering, or even that this is the sound of John being more experienced and bringing that to the table I will never know. All I do know is that there is a second EP available later in the year, which will be titled “Relapse”. As it stands, this is a cracker of an EP, and most definitely worth a blast for all of you with a penchant for miserable raging!

(8.5/10 Chris Davison)

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https://forruin.bandcamp.com