WITHIN THE RUINS

Creature is the debut full-length album from Within the Ruins, and it's also their first release for major extreme metal label Victory Records. Their first two EP's didn't do much to impress me, but nonetheless I gave Creature a few spins just to see if they'd made some improvements since their rough beginning. While a slight improvement over their previous two releases, Creature is still plagued by the lifeless compositions and generic stylistic traits that restrain my enthusiasm for this band in general. Within the Ruins certainly know how to handle their instruments, but I fail to find anything on Creature that strikes me as a worthwhile musical experience.

The music on Creature lies somewhere between deathcore, technical death metal, and melodic death metal. While Within the Ruins fails at sounding too different from the hordes of deathcore outfits on the scene today, their tech-metal edge does keep things more interesting than one might expect. The tech-metal portions are pretty dry and unmemorable, but I'd take them any day over the torturous one-note breakdowns and gang-styled vocals that Creature relies upon far too heavily. As a standalone technical death metal album, Creature may have been pretty interesting - those jagged transitions between sections and dreadful breakdowns really drag down my enjoyment, though. This album is honestly a mess from a compositional standpoint, and the entire lack of memorability and coherence is ultimately Creature's greatest downfall.

Though a flawed album in many regards, this debut isn't entirely without its assets. Within the Ruins are a group of impeccable musicians (especially in the guitar department), and Creature's blinding solos and furious start-stop dynamics show within minutes that these guys have quite a bit of experience at their respective instruments. The production is also pretty good, even though the drums sound too triggered for my liking.

Overall, Creature is more or less what I expected from a Within the Ruins album at this point - fantastic musicianship and quality production, unfortunately matched with lifeless compositions and unmemorable riffs. Hardly a rewarding musical experience in any sense of the word, the most I can give Creature is 2 stars. If Within the Ruins honed in on their tech-death metal side and ditched the sterile songwriting, they may have a lot to offer - until that happens, you can easily put them in the overwhelmingly large category of deathcore bands that simply fail to deliver.

In 2008, American technical deathcore act Within the Ruins followed up their rather weak debut EP with Empires. Also released on Innerstrength Records, this EP showed the band with a few slight improvements to their core sound introduced on Driven by Fear. Empires has a few more interesting tech-metal moments than their first effort, and even though the overall atmosphere is still pretty generic and sterile, Within the Ruins had made a step forward with this outing. I really wish the band would've done without the boring one-note breakdowns this time around, but there's still enough mildly interesting moments to keep Empires from being completely disposable.

At its core, Empires is virtually the same style we heard on Driven by Fear. That means you should expect fairly by-the-books deathcore with an additional technical edge. Fortunately, the tech-metal edge has been expanded upon slightly this time around, and it replaces a few of the previous EP's more horrific aspects. The wretched clean vocals are hardly found on Empires, and even though there are still far too many uninspired breakdowns here, they are less frequent than they were on the debut. The tech-metal aspect still isn't very remarkable, but at least it holds my interest more than boring deathcore breakdowns. The production has also been improved on Empires, and this sounds much more like a professional release than Driven by Fear.

Empires is a pretty substantial improvement over Driven by Fear, but it still isn't enough to really blow me away. Within the Ruins simply don't possess memorable songwriting tools, and their frequent 'default to breakdown'-styled compositions fail to come across as more than a mere gimmick. The musicianship and production are very strong, though, so 2 stars are pretty fair for Empires. Even though this isn't a particularly memorable effort, it may be worth a look from fans of Within the Ruins and deathcore in general.

Before being signed to Victory Records and becoming one of the world's most popular technical deathcore outfits, Within the Ruins released two EP's on Innerstrength Records. Driven by Fear is the first effort from this American five-piece, and it was released in 2006. Even this early in their career, Within the Ruins were a group of highly proficient musicians with a knack for creating very technical and demanding deathcore music. Even though they would improve their craft even more over the course of the next few years, Driven by Fear shows a talented young act that (unfortunately) comes across as rather generic and sterile in my eyes. Within the Ruins has never been a band to really impress me, and even though their sound is more technically demanding than your average deathcore act, it hardly differentiates from the lifeless sound that plagues the majority of the genre. For my money, Driven by Fear is an entirely disposable release that's only recommended to die-hard Within the Ruins fans.

The music here is a mix of deathcore, technical death metal, and few occasional touches of melodeath. I've said before that Within the Ruins is fairly standard "chug-chug-chug" breakdown-driven deathcore with a few wanky guitar sections for additional technicality, and even though that isn't entirely true, the music on Driven by Fear does come across as derivative and pretty uninteresting. There are a few decent riffs, but the songwriting just isn't that powerful or memorable. I find myself begging for this EP to end about halfway through; definitely a major issue when the product in question is under twenty five minutes. The production is also a lot less polished and professional than some later Within the Ruins efforts, and even though it's still competent, it sounds pretty dry and lifeless to these ears.

While not without its assets, Driven by Fear is a pretty unessential release in my opinion, even within the rather weak discography from Within the Ruins. Strong musicianship does not necessarily make strong music, and the lifeless compositions and generic deathcore approach exemplified on this effort are pretty good evidence of this. Maybe if the band ditched the sterile breakdowns they would impress me a bit more; whatever the cause for my distaste, I've yet to be impressed from this American outfit and this debut EP hasn't changed my mind. 1.5 stars are deserved for the quality musicianship alone, but this isn't one I'd easily recommend. The band's full-length albums are (slightly) better if you're still interested in checking these guys out.

Omen is a rather interesting EP from American technical deathcore act Within the Ruins. Rather than filling the whole release with original material, the band has decided to cover two songs from artists that I wouldn't have previously associated with them - "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas and "Fight Fire With Fire" by Metallica. Interesting picks for this hyper-technical deathcore act, indeed. I'll say right off the bat that, despite their unique approach to these iconic tracks, their versions are disappointing, to say the least. The band's original compositions aren't a whole lot better, either. My biggest issue with Within the Ruins has always been their focus on technicality over good songwriting, and that's as apparent as ever on Omen. A decent purchase for fans of the band, but completely unessential for everyone else.

The music here is exactly what we've come to expect from Within the Ruins over their previous few releases. Standard "chug-chug-chug-breakdown" deathcore with a bunch of wanky guitar sections added for additional technicality. The original compositions are slightly more interesting than the unbearable version of "Carry on Wayward Son", but their take on "Fight Fire With Fire" is probably the most interesting thing here. Not by much, though - I'll take the Metallica version any day of the week. The only saving grace for Omen is the excellent musicianship - these guys are some damn good musicians, and their technical abilities are highly admirable. I just wish they would focus a bit more of that talent on writing some memorable songs...

I wasn't a big fan of Invade from last year, but Omen is a step down in quality from that album. Within the Ruins have tons of potential to become the most powerful force in the deathcore scene, but their seeming inability to write memorable songs really serves as a major setback. Fans of the band and deathcore in general may find interest in Omen, even though I can certainly think of a few deathcore albums from this year that are much more impressive. 1.5 stars are the most I can give here.

'Invade' - Within The Ruins (5/10)

Throughout the career of this band, Within The Ruins have continued to impress me more and more with their technical chops, but despite all of the flashy skills on guitar, they seem to always lack in the songwriting department, where it really counts. 'Creature' showed the band developing into a more solid tech metal act rather than the deathcore of yesteryear, and for the most part, I have supported this moderate shift. However, although Within The Ruins have certainly polished up the sound they are working with here on their sophomore full length 'Invade', I cannot say that the musical experience itself has actually been improved upon, and in the end, that's all that matters.

Within The Ruins seems to be another one of those would-be metalcore bands that likely got tired of the widespread conventions of the genre, and instead got trapped in the conventions and formula of prog metalcore, a style shared by other more established acts such as Between The Buried And Me, and Becoming The Archetype. Compared to their earlier stuff 'I would say that 'Invade' takes a slightly more experimental edge, although as is evidenced by the campy aesthetic of the album cover, they still have that deathcore sound in their music. For some, that may not necessarily be a bad thing, but I'll have to say that- putting it diplomatically- I prefer Within The Ruins when they are doing their technical thing, rather than plodding along with their chug-chug antics.

The instrumentation and musicianship has been sharpened since their previous outing, and I'm even hearing some stranger sounding ideas where they are dabbling around with out-of-tune leads and such. The drummer's unrelenting style still somewhat annoys me, but even that's been improved upon. Really, the only thing about Within The Ruins which doesn't seem to be open to much change are the vocals, and they are also one of the less glorious elements in the band/ Although they are standard for the style, they are flat and dry and while getting that sense of primal anger and 'oomph' across, I don't find them enjoyable on a musical level.

Within The Ruin's greatest weakness always has been, and remains the dry songwriting, which never builds up to anything. The songs enter fast and angry, and they leave fast and angry. The static trend of the compositions really takes away much of the shock while listening to the technical riffs, because after hearing nothing but heaviness after a while, the ears of the listener begin to adjust, and soon it just gets monotonous. I really hope Within The Ruins works that out at some point, because from a technical standpoint, they are good to go. There just needs to be that one big push in the direction of good songwriting to get me liking what this band is doing.

'Creature' - Within The Ruins (5/10)

Throughout my experience with Within The Ruins, I have kept coming back to two main points about them that shape my opinion of them. Firstly, it is clear that they are very good musicians, particularly the guitarists. Secondly (and more importantly), they suffer from a lack of the things that make music memorable for me; dynamics, melodies, or even a mild sense of experimentation. Although my view on them has not always been very positive, I have stuck with them for the single fact that with each album, they kept showing more promise, and while the issue of memorable songwriting remains something of an issue, these guys certainly know how to make some riffs of stunning technicality. 'Creature' is the first full-length that Within The Ruins has done, and without a doubt, it is a significant step above anything they have had to offer on any of their EPs. Many of my issues with the band are still here largely, but they are beginning to counter their weaknesses head on with their fierce approach.

Although Within The Ruins is generally labelled as a deathcore, or metalcore band (labels I have used to describe them in the past), I find that they have strayed from these styles with 'Creature'. True, there are still a fair share of thrashy verses, gang vocals, and- yes- the dreaded breakdowns, but much of 'Creature' shows Within The Ruins blistering away on parts that make them sound closer to tech death than anything. The music throws new ideas at the listener with unrelenting speed, and by the end of the album, one is bound to feel exhausted. There are no longer any aspects of the music which outright annoy me; even the chugging breakdowns are never dwelled on long enough to start derailing the flow that these songs have.

While all of these guitar riffs are complex and indicative of an obvious tightness that the band has formed with each other, it cannot shake the fact that Within The Ruins does not do anything here that would not already be expected of them and their style. There has been that much appreciated move away from their root sound, but I still get this feeling that the music played on 'Creature' is largely technical metal-by-numbers. There are a few fleeting moments, such as the Spanish acoustic build on 'Jump Ship' that break away from this, but the technical metal itself never breaks down any walls, and suffers from a very feeling. The hardcore shouting vocals are also a tad undesirable, although that's more a matter of personal taste than anything else.

Within The Ruins is a very talented band, and up until now, they have continued to improve. However, I can only hope that they will be able to add a new dimension to their sound in the future; this dry, modern approach to technical metal is still doing very little for me.

'Empires' - Within The Ruins (4/10)

A slight improvement over their first EP 'Driven By Fear', I find myself able to appreciate Within The Ruins a little more, although I still could not ever consider myself a fan of them. I find that whenever they focus a little more on their technical elements (as opposed to their simpler deathcore sound), there is a positive correlation to the quality of the music. Within The Ruins is certainly getting hungrier for tech metal on this one, but as far as actually good music goes, it still feels as if there is something missing from their formula.

Gone are the gross clean vocals and some of the cringe-worthy deathcore breakdowns that sought to balance out the otherwise impressive technical moments with some less inspiring heaviness. 'Empires' follows a fairly similar formula to 'Driven By Fear', but the technical aspect has been highlighted a little more, and the production has been improved upon. There are still the breakdowns where the band lets go of any technical leanings and succumbs to angry shouts and rhythmic strumming of a single downtuned chord, but this less tasteful approach has been downplayed. All the same, while Within The Ruins have made an improvement in their sound here, I still think there are a few very important things missing from them.

Most importantly, Within The Ruins still suffers from a lack of variety, melody, originality, or really anything that could make 'Empires' a fairly memorable experience. The songwriting is all alike, and if there are tight structures to the songs here, they are being obscured here by the fact that all of the ideas sound the same, be they the fills in between vocal sections where the skills of the guitarist are flaunted, the thrashy verses where the speedy riffs support angry hardcore vocals, or lastly, the times where Within The Ruins is happy to chug away with their one chord wonder breaks.

A slight improvement over what Within The Ruins had done previously, and their sound would see a further improvement on the debut full-length 'Creature'. However, the band still hasdone nothing to distinguish themselves.

'Driven By Fear' - Within The Ruins (3/10)

This is the first EP from the technical deathcore band Within The Ruins, and even early on, it is clear that the band had some good musical chops. Like so many bands in this style however, their sound may be technically impressive and refined, but it is also incredibly formulaic and dry. That is the quick summary of my feelings towards the music Within The Ruins has made over the past few years. To this band's credit though, they started out on a much better foot than some of the other bands who have attempted to do the same thing, but I find myself fairly hard- pressed to remember a thing about this music after listening besides it being 'bland, technically impressive metalcore'.

'Driven By Fear' is the first official collection of tracks from the band, and I really find myself torn between either respecting the band for their technical skills, or disliking them for their utterly generic approach. For anyone who has heard a song or album from the often polarizing genre of deathcore, you can add some technical guitar work (sounding somewhat like Between The Buried And Me) and there you have Within The Ruins. As I have thought of this band since I started listening to them, they are quite good at crafting tech death riffs and fusing it in with the less interesting breakdowns or vocal-centric moments. The issue with the band is that the songwriting itself is never actually interesting, and instead its left to a handful of riffs here and there to keep me on my toes. The way this band executes their material is fairly good, although the gravity blasts on the drumkit is a little overdone. What is lacking though is any sort of memorable style to them. Within The Ruins makes no attempt to differentiate themselves from the legions of other technical metal bands that share their aesthetic.

A fairly lukewarm EP, and although I have become recently tolerant of the deathcore breakdowns that this band makes use of, its something I wish that Within The Ruins could do without. Maybe if they focused on their strong technical element, this band could do better than this.

'Omen' - Within The Ruins (4/10)

An EP to keep the flow of music consistent without necessarily having to make the effort of a full-length, Within The Ruins' 'Omen' is a short burst of new music from this progressive deathcore act. Although this release may already have been anticipated by fans, this is my first experience thus far with the band, and already, I can say some things about them. First, it is clear that they are strong musicians. Particularly in regards to the dual guitar work of Schelt and Cocchi, Within The Ruins are able to make technical music, and pull it off with relative power. Unfortunately- as becomes painfully evident in one of the two covers they do here- Within The Ruins suffers from a lack of variety in their sound, and paired with some of the less glorious aspects of their sound (ahem, breakdowns), 'Omen' is a somewhat underwhelming release.

There are four songs here, the first two being originals, and the latter two being a pair of tracks from bands that no doubt influenced Within The Ruins when they were growing up. As far as these two originals go, it is pretty standard fare for this band. They alternate between crunchy breakdowns and more impressive technical riffs that make no secret of the band's skill with music theory. Neither song has any grasp of melody, instead focusing on heaviness and technicality. This can be quite impressive to listen to from a technical front, but in terms of listening for enjoyment goes, I do feel that Within The Ruins is focusing a little too hard on being 'br00tal' (whatever that means), rather than good, memorable songwriting. These songs generally feel rhapsodic in nature. Although there are recurring ideas here and there, there are not any parts or structures to the originals that stand out of the technical forays and well-executed, but forgettably generic breakdowns. The vocals here also suffer from the same flat tough guy growls that is standard for this genre.

The two covers are actually what I was more interested in here. Although I had never experienced a Within The Ruins album before 'Omen', you can tell alot about a band by the songs they choose to cover, as well as the way they perform them. Choosing a well known song by the progressive classic rock band Kansas and a Metallica track from 'Ride The Lightning', 'Carry On My Wayward Son' and 'Fight Fire With Fire' are both great songs for a band like this to dabble with. Unfortunately, the sort of classy dynamic from the original 'Carry On' is lost here. Here, we hear the classic Kansas track butchered with breakdowns and deathcore vocals. Maybe I was naive for expecting any different, but I was sort of hoping that Within The Ruins would do something unexpected with the track. 'Fight Fire With Fire' is obviously a much heavier track by nature, and the band does a fairly functional cover of it, although there isn't much all too impressive about it.

'Omen' is not a great EP from this band, but their skill and style is fairly solid, and I would not hesitate to call them one of the better acts in the deathcore sound.

On paper, Invade has every ingredient to succeed as a modern technical death metal/metalcore release. Insanely fast drumming, shredding guitars, technical song structures, and loud vocals - the entire ordeal is here in full form. But once you start to dig beneath the surface, it's hard for me to find anything here aside from generic metal riffing, lifeless compositions, and uninspired vocals. Although the guitar acrobatics can be fun to listen to from time to time, I simply can't see anything here that's above average. The music is lifeless, and fails to move me in any way. Maybe fans of really technical and complex extreme metal will like this one, but I honestly think that you can find much better in that department. Despite all of the good things about this album (the production is great and the musicians are talented), Within the Ruins seems to be lacking one very important thing in terms of songwriting. Even after I've just heard the album, it's awfully difficult for me to even recall one melody, and that is ultimately the problem with Invade. If this band wants to really impress me with a future release, they need to hone in on their songwriting skills a bit.

Even though the compositions fail to move me in any way, there are still plenty of good things about Invade. The most obviously positive thing about the album is the incredibly technical musicianship, which is always truly impressive. Whether or not you enjoy the music, the technical proficiency of the group is unquestionable. The vocals are somewhat monotonous at times, but they are generally strong as well. As previously mentioned, the really big issue here is the lack of memorable songwriting and a distinct sound. Within the Ruins sounds almost identical to the tons of American technical metalcore bands nowadays, and that is definitely another major issue. With that said, if these guys can really work on making more memorable songs and a more unique sound, I can see these guys making a really good album in the future.

The production sounds great, and is one of the most positive things about Invade. This mix is professional, dense, and very clean.

I was pretty disappointed by Invade, despite some of its major assets. When the music seems this uninspired and generic, technical proficiency and a polished production can only help so much. If Within the Ruins takes a more original and memorable approach in the future, I can really see them succeeding in the crowded technical metalcore genre. As it stands, fans of highly technical extreme metal will probably enjoy this, but I'm not one of them. The most I can give this album is 2 stars. Despite my lukewarm feelings, I really do hope that their next effort is much more impressive - they definitely have the chops.