This gathering of grave diggers started out in the early 2000’s and have since then amassed five albums of which I note have all been released on different labels. Their latest succinctly entitled ‘Ruins’ sees them on the highly respected Transcending Obscurity roster and the Greek quartet have in their ranks members of illustrious acts such as Heretic Cult Redeemer, Dead Congregation, Enshadowed and stacks of others between them. This is classed as black metal but it resides in the deathly sphere of things to my ears and certainly eschews the more traditional weave of the Hellenic scene forefathers, going for much more brutal force than one may expect.
Indeed, as opener ‘In the Midst of a Vast Solitude’ batters straight in the solitude is far from evident and there is little in the way of space within its calamitous battering charge. Augmented by the harrowing hoary vocal barks from ex Ravencult singer T.D. one gets the feeling they may well be in for one of those dragged through a hedge exercises in extremity. The band do slow down however and play around with some atmosphere within their otherwise tumultuous sound. This gives things a bit of a black orthodox feel. However, if you feel the vocals don’t quite fit, they continue without deviance through the entire album without the slightest change in timbre. In other words, you are stuck with them and this will probably determine your appreciation or otherwise of this release. For me they give the blackness a distinct deathly orientation and they would aptly give old Corpsegrinder himself a run for his money.
They bomb through things with tracks starting in vicious manner with a huge blasting ballast from the drums, rattling guitars and those vile rancorous vocals. Tracks such as ‘Perish’ are punishing killing machines but do have some neat mid-paced chunks of groove about them when they do temper the charge a little. It’s as though having started off torturing their victim this lot add some ghoulish harmony to drag the suffering out and keep their captive alive and in pain as long as possible. Frankly though, I’m in two minds here. There’s some slower, stygian and gloomy numbers that would go down well as bodies are lowered into the earth but I found more in the way of engagement as we hit the sixth track ‘Isotropic Eradication.’ There’s some interesting guitar work thornily entwining around the embittered assault and similarly the dark folds of ‘Purgation’ plunge down further into the abyss and there is a definite vibe of malaise about it all. Finding escape from those vocals however is a task as they seem to relentless follow you around with rugged determinism. Not a bad album by any means but ‘Ruins’ ultimately left me feeling a little ambivalent and sitting on a particularly sharp fence.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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