I still feel bad about the review I gave Krypts a while back, especially considering how consistent and brilliant Dark Descent Records has been over the years. So I decided to go back and check out the label’s other late 2016 release from US sort of super group, Ruinous.

Formed by a trio of guys who have played in or still play in the likes of Funebrarum, Disma, Immolation, Goreaphobia and Master, you should have a pretty good idea of the overall sound, but these guys have a few surprises up their sleeve by way of an miasmal stench that adds some Autopsy and raw, early Swedish death metal (Nihilist) to the overall rot  on display, not unlike Swedes, Decomposed.

Driven by Matt Medeiros’ vocals that mix Chris Reifert’s sick gurgle and a more cavernous traditional Dark Descent bellow, this nine track 47 minute does not beat around the bush with a furiously old school sound glossed with Dark Descent’s more stable, recognizable tones. It’s dirty, its doomy (check out the crawling “Procession of Ceaseless Sorrows”), it’s foreboding, it’s massive, and it’s somehow catchy, which is where the Autopsy/Nihilist/Master canters come in, moreso in the albums early tracks like “The Tombs of Blasphemy”, “Transfixed on the Gate” and “Dragmarks”.

While all the elements are solid, there is no denying the more oozing, filthy doom numbers like the aforementioned “Procession of Ceaseless Sorrows” and the mammoth 11 minute, “Slaughterday/Retribution For The Dead” ish “Through Stygian Catacombs” are the highlights with a hacking pure Autopsy reek. That said the more urgent, feral tracks in the albums later stages, likes of “Ravenous Eternal”, “Plague Maiden” and “Torn Forever From the Light” are pretty killer, if still imbuing the same rotten hues.

I’m not sure how I missed/over looked this back when it came out at the tail end of 2016, but it’s a nice, simple, filthy death metal record that has a little of everything that Dark Descent does so well.

[Visit the band's website]

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