Ruins – Cauldron (2009)

The metal heads from Ruins hail from Tasmania, Australia, and their music is indeed very interesting. The band is labeled as Black Metal and you can clearly hear the influences and some songs a very straight forward Black metal (track 5). Other songs are a different mutation of Black Metal that I have a hard time pointing out.

Don’t get me wrong “Cualdron” is a very good album that will entertain any listener, but might offend some Black Metal purists. Personally I think this album is very interesting and it needs more than 1 listen to fully appreciate everything that is going on. Luckily I listen to albums at least 3 full times before I write a review, and I had to listen to Cualdron for more than 5 times to fully understand the album and like it too.

The biggest thing that is noticeable here is the monster drumming, it’s excellent, it’s massive and it takes the spot away from all the music in my first listening of this album. After getting over the massive drumming we are left with very interesting guitar lines that I have a hard time finding something to compare them too. All this while maintaining the essential sound of a Black Metal release, but pushing it to different directions.

The vocals are in my opinion something that brings the score of this release down a few points since I don’t particular like them and they are not your typical high pitched Black Metal vocals. The sound very raspy and sometimes they even remind me of old Celtic Frost or some older Darkthrone albums.

Overall this is a very solid release, with superb production and a better than expected take on Black Metal.

Release Date: April 7, 2009

Country: Australia