While hardly a ground breaking release of thrashy, energetic ATG drenched metalcore, the debut from Arise and Ruin is a solid entry into the saturated genre and certainly is a lot better than some of Victory’s other recent/upcoming releases (Taking Back Sunday, Farewell to Freeway, Moros Eros, The Audition, etc).

Canada’s Arise and Ruin are not bringing anything new to the table with their mix of Unearth (Ken Susi produced this effort), The Black Dahlia Murder and Poison the Well with countless other metalcore influences with a ‘real metal’ exterior but like say the recent release from Sons of Azrael, the lack of originality is somewhat made up for with decent song writing and a level of energy that makes this a solid middle tier effort.

The Susi production is stout, highlighting the many more metal based, resonating breakdowns (“Bound By Blood”, “The Final Dawn”) and cantering, melodic, yet sharp riffage (“End of the Road”, “To The Grind”, “Unbound”), backed by Ryan Buachman’s croon free stern rasp and growl. But ultimately it still sounds (both production and song wise) like so many other bands out there today plying the same style, though to their credits Arise and Ruin’s debut is one of the above average attempts.

Not great but not bad, and of Victory’s 3 recent ‘metal’ releases (Nights Like These, The Autumn Offering) Arise and Ruin has had the most playing time with me, though in 3 weeks it likely to be gone from my memory.

[Visit the band's website]

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