 |
artist: Menace Ruine |
For their third release, Menace Ruine seem, on the surface, to have changed direction quite radically from their last CD, the heavily black metal-coloured Cult of Ruins, but closer listening reveals that all the distinctive elements of their previous releases remain in place. What has evolved is the composition - The Die is Cast reinvents the MR sound in a more subtle mode. The harsh synthetic blastbeats have all but disappeared, there's nary a metal trope in sight, and vocalist Geneviève - who is more than ever reminiscent of Nico in her classic Marble Index/Desertshore period - is very much the focus; but the monstrous synth-through-guitar-amp howl is still omnipresent and overpowering. There's a timeless quality about the best pieces here - and not only in the occasionally folk-influenced melodies, but in the sheer vastness of the warm distortion that envelops these songs. The disc isn't perfect - the solos that occur in a few places seems out of place, the vocals are mixed maddeningly low on occasion (this is really unfortunate, as Geneviève's voice, underutilised on Cult of Ruins, is a marvel - simultaneously warm and cold, authoritative but with a touch of fragility), and the drum-rolling percussion is a little overdone in a few places, but there are more than enough breathtaking moments in the epic closer 'The Bosom of the Earth' alone to make up for these few shortcomings. This is without a doubt one of the most intriguing releases of 2008, and Menace Ruine are a group to keep an eye on - they're on to something powerful.
