Artist: Ruin
Title: Half Skull
Genre: Ambient / Funeral Doom
Release Date: 15th April 2011
Label: Viva Hate
Album Review
It is damn refreshing to hear some Doom with ambition beyond the slow guitar riffs and hanging keyboards. RUIN inject classical instruments and avant-garde electronics to create something truly out of this world. Where people have written concept albums around H.P. Lovecraft, RUIN are perhaps the first to truly tap into that sense of cosmic darkness that permeates his work. The slow strains of the cellos dissected by the analogue synthesizers as they whir and beep in an alien manner sums up the idea of an ancient alien presence amidst an Edwardian town glowing under the gas lights on a dismal night. The clashing and evolving musical styles are easy to pick out, the drone doom and neo-classical are paired together in a symbiotic way that is both heavy and delicate.
Tracks like ‘Osoizarg Orgella’, ‘Grave’ and ‘Blck Phlgm’ echo with eerie stings that weave a dark atmospheric shroud as they emerge. While the likes of ‘The Circle’, ‘Satan Comes, Satan Leaves’ and ‘The Burning’ are permeated by the alien electronics that coil and choke the warmth of the classical instruments. It’s only halfway through that any explicit rock / metal sounds come into the equation with drums and electronic bass cropping up in the likes of ‘Gekämmetes Haar, Appolonia’ - which gives the album a bit more substance and, dare I say, some approachability. The productions isn’t too clean, nor is it to “Kvlt”. RUIN have struck a balance between the eldritch and the sublime. Best of all they do it with the skill and judgement befitting veteran musicians. While some may hate the classical side and yet others may recoil at the electronics, all must attest that this is one mind-bending album.
Tracklist
01. The Circle
02. Osoizarg Orgella
03. Satan Comes, Satan Leaves
04. Grave
05. Help Me
06. Blck Phlgm
07. Gekämmtes Haar, Appolonia
08. Flamme
09. Landscape With Gallows
10. Geister 4240342
11. Alucinac
12. The Burning
Line-up
Martin Eder in collaboration with “Solistenensemble Kaldeidoskop”
Websites
http://www.ruinofficial.com
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 7
Extras: -
Total: 7.5 / 10
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