Artist: Saints of Ruin
Title: Elevatis Velum
Genre: Gothic Rock/ Black Pop
Release Date: 12th April 2013
Label: Echozone
Album Review
SAINTS OF RUIN, formed in San Francisco in 2007, describe their sound as a combination of Gothic Metal and Power Pop, or Black Pop. They were signed to Echozone in 2009, and in April 2013 released a new album ‘Elevatis Velum’, which translates as ‘Lifting the veil’. ‘The Thirst’ gets things going, all the elements of any Gothic Rock standard firmly in place from the off. Chugging and shimmering guitars, check. Church bells, check. Lyrical negativity, oh yes. But wait, something vital is missing. A tune. There’s a bit of one lurking in the “enough is enough” chorus, but the ploddy, aimless sounding singing in the verse negates any sense of purpose here. As an opener on a new album, it’s a howler.
But surely things will improve. The flat singing at the start of ‘Blood Moon’ would suggest otherwise, although it’s competent enough as it blusters along. But a lack of melody again dogs it. ‘Tin Box’ starts well, a light strum over chopstick keyboards could almost be early SIOUXSIE but the real problem here are the lyrics. “A long time ago, I buried my heart in a tin box, down in the cellar with the spiders and dust, I was waiting for you” is simply terrible, clearly written first and then shoe-horned into a song. They jar because they don’t scan at all, and because the juvenile imagery is so Goth-by-numbers they’re probably what Robert Smith used to dream when he was nine. And the bad poetry is a feature throughout this album, they words simply don’t fit, which means spending more time listening to them than you would if they were half decent.
‘Boundless’ is better. It aims to be a big, ballsy ballad, the singing is stronger and there’s some pleasant enough keyboard playing in the background. It’s probably the best song here, although possibly should be titled ‘Endless’ as at 8 minutes long the attempt at the epic far outstays its welcome. ‘Never’ is excellent, if you like eighties power pop and still mourn the sinking into history of BONNIE TYLER and PAT BENATAR. But actually, it’s dreadful. Dated and bloated, it sounds tired and bored with itself, wondering how on earth it got dragged from retirement and asked to put its shoulder pads on again. ‘Riding on the Sun’ has another stab at the epic, and it’s not a total fail. There’s enough going on here to keep interest levels up, and there’s some suitably chilly whispering in ‘Your Ruin’. The latter song though falls flat yet again, bad lyrics, a lazy lack of melody and some quite excruciating singing in places. Oh and the guitars chug. Too much guitar chugging for my liking.
So how to finish such an album? Why, with a cover of much-loved MORRISSEY classic ‘Every day is like Sunday’ of course. This really has to be heard to be believed. It is dire, completely misunderstanding and misreading the original. A dirge of quite admirable proportions, it would no doubt leave the ex-SMITHS man with a wilting gladioli. I wanted to like this release, I really did. Perhaps because of the band name, or the fact that the singer calls herself Ruby Ruin, or that Black Pop sounds promising and possibly even fun. But there is little to love here, and certainly nothing fun about these tired and dated, over-earnest and po-faced offerings. Avoid.
Tracklist
01. The Thirst
02. Blood Moon
03. Tin Box
04. Stand Alone
05. Boundless
06. Don’t Love Me
07. Never
08. Riding On The Sun
09. Your Ruin
10.Every Day Is Like Sunday
Line-up
Ruby Ruin – Vocals
Tommy Dark – Guitars
Kat Downs – Keyboards
Michael Broadus – Drums
Website
http://www.saintsofruin.com / https://www.facebook.com/SaintsOfRuin
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 3
Sound: 3
Total: 3 / 10
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