A Wilhelm Scream - Ruiner Review

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Tracklist:
1. The King Is Dead
2. Killing It
3. The Pool
4. The Soft Sell
5. God Loves A Liar
6. In Vino Veritas II
7. Me Vs. Morrissey In the Pretentiousness Contest (The Ladder Match)
8. Congratuations
9. The Kids Can Eat a Bag of Dicks
10. When I Was Alive: Walden III
11. Mercy Day for Mr. Vengeance
12. Less Bright Eyes, More Deicide
13. Speed of Dark
14. Cancer Dream

Ranking: #84 for 2005

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4
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3.5
great

John A. Hanson STAFF (149 Reviews)

2006-07-21 | 17 comments | 2,011 views

Ruiner, the latest full-length from melodic hardcore band A Wilhelm Scream, is a paradox for me. On one hand, the musicianship, at its peak, is absolutely outstanding. Everyone contributes their part astoundingly well, and it becomes one of the most brilliant pieces of punk I've ever heard. Then again, at times they become incredibly generic, and it truly becomes a bore of an album. Luckily, even in the deepest, darkest moments on this album, the guitarists are there to save it in the end.

A Wilhelm Scream originally made their mark by releasing Mute Print, regarded by many as brilliant and topping numerous 2004 punk charts. It would be a task to follow up such a well-received album, and somehow AWS pulled it off to some degree here. As individual musicians, they're all close to being outstanding if not so; guitarists Trevor Reilly and Christopher Levesque are perhaps the most talented guitarist duo in punk today, while bassist Brian Robinson routinely makes fun and catchy basslines that manage to distinguish themselves from the pounding riffs and solos (he even throws in a solo here and there, a neat trick to look out for).

The drumming is a slight drop off from the rest of the band, but that's to be expected in such a guitar driven band. Nicholas Angelini keeps the beat perfectly fine, and while he provides quite a few fills, he never overdoes it. Nuno Pereira is a rather bland vocalist, however. He isn't particularly bad; his psuedo-intoxicated sounding singing style, while not unique in any sense, adds that extra edge to the music. While his voice can get incredibly grating over the course of a lengthy song, on tracks like Congratulations, it works perfectly.

The album is at its best when the band decides to get technical on us. The opening track, The King is Dead, contains some of the best guitarwork I've ever heard, from the opening solo to the mind-numbingly awesome bridge, it's guitarist heaven. The band as a whole put on their best performance on Killing It, as everyone plays a solidly throughout with Nuno's barks and the driving riff making the song. The Kids Can Eat a Bag of Dicks is also notable due to the incredibly metal sounding intro, and the face-melting bass solo near the end of the song.

Of course, the album can't sustain that for its 14-track duration, and it often falls into being tedious and not a whole lotta fun to listen to. Much of the middle of the album (rather, tracks 4-8) is entirely too repetitive, and it starts to lose steam near the end of the album as well. However, all in all, Ruiner an extremely solid metal-infused punk album, where the highlights in the end do end up slaying the "lowlights." It's a great record, and one of the more promising records of 2005. Here's to more crazy guitar solos in punk!

Recommended Tracks
The King is Dead
Killing It
Congratulations
The Kids Can Eat a Bag of Dicks

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