Vera: I have followed the musical development of For Ruin with great interest. In the beginning it used to be a one-man-project of the Irishman John Murphy. The first three demos featured melodious death/black metal cast from a superior mould. At the time of the third demo ‘Obsidian’, John gathered a band around him to play some live gigs with the band. The well-considered way to grow little by little to maturity has resulted in a few positive results since then.
For Ruin’s intense, heavy music has been welcomed with rave reviews all over the world. In 2006 they ended up in the top ten of Terrorizer’s “Best Unsigned Act”. But they did not remain unsigned for long: in January 2007 they inked a deal with Sentinel Records. In September of the same year their full-length debut ‘December’ was released. I never heard that album, but John was not so satisfied with the production. Fortunately it was generally praised for its composing potential and one can see it as a reflection of the band at that particular point in time. The release was followed by a national tour. In the meantime they supported established bands like Primordial, Skyforger and Amon Amarth. This year they played with Paradise Lost and Rotting Christ. These are great bands as company! For some reason they chose to release the second album themselves.
This sophomore album ‘Last Light’ - preceded by a digital only release of the EP ‘Enlightened’ - was recorded as band, even in the writing process Murphy got some help of guitarist Drew Meyers and bassist Pete Lawlor. Steve O’Connell is responsible for the powerful drum skills, but he lives (temporary?) in Swiss now. No more recordings in the home studio; this time the well-prepared band entered the Komodo Mobile Studios with producer Alwyn Walker. With brilliant result, since the ten new songs - only Cold Call’ had been written earlier - blow your speakers in a magnificent way. In comparison with earlier works, the songs are faster, consequently there is more of a black metal feel. John’s voice is evocative of Peter Tägtgren and Johan Hegg. That is not so strange, since influences of Hypocrisy and Amon Amarth can be found in the music as well. Yet For Ruin adds that personal extra flavour. Let us call it an Irish spirit, although For Ruin has more in common with Scandinavian extreme metal than with their fellow compatriots and blood brothers (Primordial, Mael Mordha, Mourning Beloveth). In addition they relish their crafted fury with marvellous melodic guitar leads. ‘In Suffering’ and last track ‘Elysium’ are songs in which the epic side of the band is featured. The first song has a heavy lyrical theme about the abuses of the Catholic Church (mainly in Ireland). These two songs are my personal favourites. This album also includes two instrumental tracks ‘Enlightened’ and ‘Crawl’, these once again prove the tightness of the band. Go to www.forruin.com or www.myspace.com/forruinband and spread the word! This band ought to rise from the underground!
Maak home
Bookmark