Review Summary: If you can get past the challenging moments in this album, you will be rewarded.
It doesn't take a genius to say that Ruins is a very hit - or miss band, but when they hit, it can be real good. Ryuichi Masuda is excellent on this album, and this album has some of the best bass solos I've heard from this band. Ryuichi’s bass and Tatsuya Yoshida's quick drumming makes some really interesting moments, including ones that go really hard. Although, I would say this album is pretty back heavy. The track that sets the boys from the men here is Brixon Varromiks. It goes on for 9 minutes, and will turn a lot of people off to the rest of the album. The album really picks up at Pig Brag Crack, then begins to lose momentum at Pontemcorary Music #1, until it picks up at Memories of Zworrisdeh. The band tries to break up the high energy music with what I would say are freakout moments. Tracks like 0’33, Comme A La Radio, and Bronze From Hell would fit this. 0’33 is the most extreme of these, for sure. Pontemcorary Music 1 and 2 are moreso experiments than freakout moments. The album does manage to slow down in Pontemcorary Music #2, but it is still a wild track. A standout would have to be Del Fanci Kant. While it is a longer track, it does genuinely slow down as Ryuichi goes up and down on the neck of his bass. Looking at others reviews of the album, a common complaint is that it lacks variety, but with tracks going from Skyscraper to Ordinary People in Idaho, I don't think they listened to the album all the way through. But I will not lie in that it does meander and can be a bit mindless to listen to, such as the improvisation on the second half of Del Fanci Kant. But outside of moments like that, it can be a great album. The closer, Bliezzaning Moltz, is one of Ruins best songs, in my opinion. It really lets the song build up slowly, which is different from the rest of the album, which would rather put in free improvisation or high energy, fast and complex music.
Final thoughts: high energy, a bit varied, but at its core very challenging music. I would give this to a new listener only to see if they can handle music like this.
Standout tracks: Prrith, Ordinary People in Idaho, Skyscraper, Memories of Zworrisdeh, Stone Eater, Bliezzaning Moltz.
