From San Francisco, California, here comes Ominous Ruin. This quintet, with former members of Inanimate Existence, offers us with this “Amidst Voices That Echo In Stone” (first official work after two demos and an EP) a good job of technical / brutal death, with some parts of slam and atmospheric dissonance. The album will presumably be released on February 26th 2021 under Willowtip Records, a label that is always attentive to this kind of proposal.

The album starts quickly with ‘Ritual’, just to direct the listener towards the right path to follow. Tech / death directed with ample space to the phrasing of the two guitarists who show off their technical skills by building the main lines of the song. ‘Deception’ pushes us even further into the world of Ominous Ruin showing excellent skills both technical and songwriting. Excellent dosage between scream and growl that make everything even more interesting without detracting from the rhythm section that also does an excellent job here.

‘Labyrinthine Torment’ is simply spectacular. It starts quietly with immense and psychedelic phrases and then evolves into a voracious guitar riff to raise a wall of sound that is difficult to overcome. Powerful song, heavy but above all elaborate as it makes a lot of talk about itself in its 7 minutes of length. ‘Consumed’ retraces what was said in the preceding. Violence becomes freer but at the same time controlled and this is where the most tech part of our ensemble is released. In closing we find a title track that gives the name to the album. Maybe a small slowdown on the rest of the album but in my opinion a small break is necessary to break the atmosphere (mind you! Here too the speed is king and the double passages are certainly not lacking). Interesting album, valuable and interesting from all points of view. A must have in your collection if you love the most acrobatic tech / death!

4 / 5 STARS