Fell Ruin – To the Concrete Drifts (Review)

Fell Ruin are a blackened doom band from the US. This is their debut album.

Fell Ruin first graced the Earth with their sickened brand of sludgy black doom in 2015 with Devices. They’ve now returned with their first full length. I enjoyed Devices, (can one enjoy something as nasty as this band?), but To the Concrete Drifts is probably even better.

Does one classify this as black metal? Sludge? Doom? How about we just call it evil and leave it at that?

Weaving together sinister doom and filthy sludge, Fell Ruin mix these together under a black metal umbrella to produce music that sounds as if your worst nightmares are coming to life.

The songs are written with a wealth of different parts to them, drawn from their multiple influences. These are made to fit naturally together, so that the doom, sludge and black metal influences are seamlessly crushed together under the band’s creative weight.

Acoustic interludes and asides are surely only included to make everything else here feel darker and nastier. Regardless, they form small oases of respite amid the blackened grime that covers everything else.

Blackened blast beats, mountains of doom, sludge-fuelled hate, moments of reflective lightness and an overall dark patina that covers everything are just some of the symptoms that Fell Ruin present with. Is there a cure for this malady? I hope not, because To the Concrete Drifts is a very good listen.

As good as this is, (and it is very good), I suspect that Fell Ruin have more sickness to spread than they’re actually showing the world at this time. I think, given some refinement, that their second album will be a real killer.

Until then, gorge yourself on To the Concrete Drifts.