Ominous Ruin - Requiem

San Francisco’s Ominous Ruin are back with another blistering slab of Tech Death entitled “Requiem.” Shorter, sweet, and to the point, this band is like Obscura meets Archspire (though not as fast). While their last effort which took some time to get off the ground since their inception in 2010, “Amidst Voices…” was a fast guitar centered effort that sounded more like Cognitive than anything else with guttural snarls and growls and dizzying solos that felt more like Alustrium meets Allegaeon without clean vocals. A few years later we have “Requiem” which is a bit shorter and capitalizes a bit more on the instrumental work versus the vocals, but still works well overall for Ominous Ruin’s whole sound. Foreboding mixed with explosive has been their name of the game for a bit, either opening slow and then jumping in or calming down with a lengthy bit of a soft outro, and here it feels like the band mixes it a bit up in the middle, for better or worse. It is still typical Tech Death standards without dipping into progressive waters like Allegaeon has on the last couple records, but it still delivers another strong Willowtip release alongside other heavy Tech Death legends out there like Gigan or Carnosus.

The biggest change for Ominous Ruin is their vocalist. Welcoming Crystal Rose in she brings an Entheos vibe to the music with her style of snarls and bellows (no cleans though) and fits nicely without making it sound too Melodeath laden in the vein of Arch Enemy. The overall tone of the instrumental work is still more Archspire meets Cognitive but with more atmosphere, as demonstrated by the haunting keyboards of the ‘Intro.’ Things jump into expected Tech Death fashion as the guitars from Alex Bacey and Joel Guernsey play off each other in dizzying fashion on ‘Seeds of Entropy’ but the big shift also seems to be in the bass as while it isn’t jazzy and Beyond Creation styled it is thick, loud and present from Mitch Yoesle as it almost has that dirty Hardcore ring to it. It slaps, almost more than the drums Harley Blandford whose machine gun fire stop and go delivery carries those riffs, especially during the solos such as on ‘Divergent Anomaly.’ While this album doesn’t have the bouncing groove to it, it features plenty of manic energy, especially on ‘Eternal.’ This song also demonstrates the pitfalls of shifts in tone as like many of the songs on “Requiem,” they go hard and suddenly just almost seem to stop for a slow atmospheric interlude before picking up again. Crystal also showcases her screeches for more depth aside from her bellows and growls, but her growls are preferred overall.

Slower parts tend to dominate the album more than they should such as the second interlude ‘Bane of Syzygial Triality’ which features lulling guitar but almost somewhat feels like a snooze or and impatient ad break as one waits to get back into the jarring Tech Death style. While Ominous Ruin seem to want to change things up a bit, they should have loaded the second half of the song with just thunderous riffs and aggression to build into the following track rather than out ominously, which they could have just done at the end for better effect. Sure, it has that sci-fi Wormed touch, but served in the wrong spot. Thankfully, the second half of the album makes the interlude almost forgotten as it features some of the best mix of riffs, vocals, sci-fi synth, and just a smorgasboard of Tech Death goodness just on the track ‘Fractal Abhorrence.’ It is loud, fires on all cylinders, has tasteful slower parts, and will keep listeners moving in their chair or on their feet. ‘Architect of Undoing’ also pushes their time signature limits and delivers  more epic Tech Death piece with almost Dejent loaded riffs, groove loaded repetition that incites headbanging, and perfectly toned vocals that bring the right level of medium to fast instrumentation followed up by a lulling outro that demonstrates even if this track was an instrumental like the interlude THIS should have been the one to show what Ominous Ruin can do for songwriting strength. The following tracks continue to deliver as well with less slow parts and a faster pace, so those who like more Archspire driven drumming among the riffs and solos will really enjoy a track like ‘Staring into the Abysm.’

While an ‘outro’ would have been a classy way to end the album, Ominous Ruin went on a high note with catchy, mosh stirring title track. It starts slow but jumps in quick, taking nods from the likes of ‘Involuntary Doppleganger’ from Archspire minus the random acoustic breakdown and really shows the drums off in style along the vocals. The guitars of course are flawless here, but for a Tech Death album the guitar are always the star so it is nice to see the focus shifted a little bit. Vocally, Crystal adds a mechanized watery rasp which adds to the sci-fi effect of the album and while brief, another facet that the previous record didn’t show with the vocalists’ from Adam’s growls. He was more guttural and forceful, but overall one can say Crystal has more range and talent. The solos are still melodic while the guitars very stop and go, but for Tech Death that isn’t too dizzying and haphazard like Meshuggah, this track is a great addition to memorable moments for the genre. While some might have been expecting a bigger leap for “Requiem” it sure won’t be the last effort for Ominious Ruin (hopefully). They touch on almost all the right notes as they try to break out of a prison of mediocrity and bloom into something big, loud and beautiful. This Tech Death effort may seem a little flat at first but once one gets past the second instrumental the album really starts to flow as the comparisons to Cognitive or Archspire start to fade a little and more of the modern metal touches like Entheos get injected into the mix. While not as brutal as bands like Stabbing or Cerebral Bore, Ominous Ruins’ female fronted touches are more in finesse than sheet blunt brutality and as a whole is a symphony of dizzying impressive highs with fewer lows on the second time around. 
 
4 / 5 STARS