RUINS „Spun forth As Dark Nets”

Music: Black Metal
Country: Australia
Website: http://www.ruinsband.com
Duration: 43..48


Cool Songs: Spun Forth As Dark Nets, Draw Near The Ice, The Ends of the Earth, Feed the Emptiness, Long And Mournful Shores.

If you haven’t heard of Australia’s Ruins before, their debut full length suggests that it will only be a matter of time. Arriving completely unexpected, ‘Spun Forth as Dark Nets’ is some of the best Black Metal I’ve heard since Immortal’s ‘Sons of Northern Darkness’ – it has that real dark, aggressive atmosphere encompassed in a simply massive ‘wall of sound’ guitar production. Truly, this disc sounds immense. The overall impact of ‘Spun Forth…’ becomes even more confronting when you consider just where and who it has come from.

For most punters (particularly outside Australia), Ruins will be very much a new name. Those with their finger on the metal pulse, will know that Ruins is a TWO PIECE act from Tasmania consisting of multi-talented Alex Pope (Vrr, Brr and Grr) along side ‘The Amenta/Psycroptic’ drummer David Haley. Formed somewhere between 2000-2002, ‘Ruins’ put out a demo in 2003 (if you want a copy, good luck, there’s only 25 originals!) to interested friends and labels. One copy ending up at Black Talon Media, who quickly released the four track CD under the title ‘Atom and Time’ back in July 2004.

Things have obviously moved fairly quickly for the Ruins duo over the past year (particularly for David who had The Amenta’s ‘Occasus’ released in 2004), new material was written, they signed with Dutch label ‘Neurotic Records’ and not only did they call upon Psycroptic guitarist Joe Haley to produce the new album, but they also scored a major coup in enlisting the services of one Tue Madsen to master the album at his own Antfarm studio in Denmark. No wonder ‘Spun Forth..’ sounds so full and punishing.

Whilst it is clear that ‘Ruins have developed their own form of Dark Atmospheric Black Metal, ‘Spun Forth..,’ to my mind, sounds like the wicked bastard child of Immortal & Satyricon. The grinding guitar rhythms aside, it is the drum performance of Haley and the vocals of Pope that give rise to such comparisons. Pope in particular has employed that real demonic, frost bitten ‘Abbath-like’ tone to his phrasing, providing a real authentic ‘Norwegian’ Black Metal feel to their compositions. Meanwhile, Haley provides the variation in tempo – working in time with the mesmerising, trance like guitar lines, he moves effortlessly between mid-tempo signatures and more frenetic blasting sections.

Aside from the technically mature and professional song writing approach that ‘Spun Forth…’ provides, perhaps the most impressive aspect is its sound. Madsen and Haley have worked some fine knob twiddling magic on this one. No three dollar garage job here folks – ‘Ruins’ are all about creating a dark atmospheric ambience in their Black Metal sound and that requires a clean, but thoroughly powerful production. Trust me when I say, ‘Spun Forth…’ sounds freaking huge!!

Ruins haven’t exactly rewritten the Black Metal template with ‘Spun Forth…’ – there are plenty of familiar moments on this. However, where they have succeeded more than most is that their song writing and riffs remain, varied, vital and most importantly, interesting. This is the absolute crux of what they do. Understanding this, if heavy as fuck atmospheric Black Metal appeals to you, ‘Spun Forth as Dark Nets’ stands as one of the best releases of the year.

note: Quote: 8.5

Tracklist

Spun Forth As Dark Nets
Cold Dark Sea
Long And Mournful Shores
Draw Near The Ice
No Trace Or Rumour
The Ends of the Earth
Loops of Time
Feed the Emptiness