“Voice of Ruin know what they like to do and are continuing to do it. And “that” is melodic death-tinged thrash. Where Purge and Purify felt like out and out Lamb of God worship—and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that—Acheron sees Voice of Ruin expanding their sound a bit more.” Define “a bit.”
“There are a few genres that tend to be whipping boys in reviewer circles, hard as we might try to weed out such partisanship. Alt-metal in particular tends to be somewhat divisive, with kvlt types eschewing it as mainstream hackery, and more refined types likewise eschewing it as lowbrow idiocy. Yet others like myself, due to the diffuse nature of the subgenre and its near-universal tendency to approach metal from outside rather than from preexisting archetypes, find it difficult to frame both aesthetically and critically; it also doesn’t help that like with its distant cousins, nu metal and post-grunge, the quality control is often poor at best.” Misery seeks company.
“As Angry Metal Guy’s resident post-metal aficionado, I’ve been bombarded with more of the cresting-and-climaxing heavy stuff than a crab-walking man-cat can possibly handle. Epic-length songs featuring more build-ups than a pro-wrestling pay-per-view? Check. Thundering drums? Check. Cascading riffs and bass work that doesn’t teem with melody so much as it just levels you into (and sometimes through) the ground? Check and mate.” Post-Crotal glow.
“Though grayed and wizened by bitter years of scathing aural abuse, my tastes never developed the way I expected. Gush over Dodecahedron; pre-order the new Ahab; “Pain of Salvation for AotY!”; I’ll be in the back row, drawing dicks on the cover of my Extreme Metal Starter Pack. Voice of Ruin, is right there with me.” Dicks and melo-death, man.
