This is the debut album from Ominous Ruin, a death metal band from the US.
Featuring an ex-member of Inanimate Existence and session drums from the drummer of Fallujah, Amidst Voices That Echo in Stone contains 45 minutes of brutal technical death metal.
This is an album of vicious riffs and withering technicality. The band’s skill with their instruments is apparent from the very start, and they bake this into their songs with the passion of the zealot. The complex and intricate playing is melded with brutal death metal’s murderous assault, but even this cannot hold back the clear love that Ominous Ruin have for their musicianship.
Not content with just showcasing their technicality, the band also want to be as hideously brutal as possible; this side of their sound is unleashed via an aggressive tendency towards expressions of tech-fuelled brutality. Ominous Ruin’s desire to be brutal is tempered not only by their inherent technical ostentation, but also by jazz and neoclassical influences that can occasionally be heard. Alongside acoustic introductions, atmospheric passages, blackened melodic assaults, tasteful synths, ghostly piano, and other ideas that add texture to the album’s intensity, these elements introduce a further layer of variety into the album, helping to hold the listener’s attention throughout.
Amidst Voices That Echo in Stone is a very solid album, delivering more than that of your average brutal/technical death metal release. Make sure you spend some time with this one.
