Rise Above The Ruins
We were recently contacted by Rise Above The Ruins, a Christian Metalcore band from South Florida in the US. Their EP, Above It All is the result of several years experience as a band, influenced by their mix of influences as a group. Dedicated to hard work, these guys are working to bring the best music to their fans, so I thought it only right I make sure I agree!
From the second the intro track comes into being you’re pummelled from every direction by rolling drums, hammering guitar lines and roaring vocals, I mean this is straight into it, no messing about or faffing about, just downright heavy bass ridden beats to get you moving along – this must destroy venues on the live scene. Unrelenting until the moment it comes to a close, you can’t help but admire the sheer pace these guys have achieved on this track, it’s pure energy throughout the track and keeps you going from start to finish. Leading in to Above It All, there’s still no break! Kicking into a sludgy riff whilst keeping the vocals powerful, this time layered up as well, the pace continues at breakneck speed, getting you out of your seat to start a pit where ever you are at that moment! Throwing in a softer vocal line, there’s a haunting feeling, something behind the heaviness which breaks things up a little and makes this more accessible. Personally, I’m not convinced it’s needed on the track as the roaring works just fine for me, but it’s a minor part of the track. What I do really like though is the guitar solo which they’ve thrown into the mix, working with the heavy backing track, it elevates everything and once again grabs your attention.
Beneath The Fallen soon comes in to take the lead, opening over a faded in guitar line over a rolling drum backing, this track is slower yet holds all of the power from the previous tracks still. Based around a relatively simply drum beat and pumping guitar line, this is a track which demonstrates the bands ability to craft tracks which are going to get them a serious following – there’s the raw heaviness to it but also a refined sense of melody to keep things moving, and it works. Guttural vocals fill the speakers throughout, once again grabbing you by the throat and throwing you into a mix of power and distortion. Soon though, signalled by a roar, Moments of Despair is upon you, once again throwing rolling drums and riffing guitars at you, adding in another soaring lead snippet to make sure that you’re not getting fed up with the power. Alternating its speed throughout, this is a track which is crafted for the live scene for sure, it’s got the power to get crowds moving, the energy to inspire anyone watching it and enough distortion to have you begging for more. My one question here though is about the cleaned up vocal line – whilst I appreciate it adds in a contrast, I don’t know if it works as part of the music.
Sky follows all of the conventions of the album so far, once again opening with a sludgy guitar line and roaring vocals, adopting a sound akin to the likes of Dark Tranquility at times. The roaring vocals, hammering guitar lines and incredible drumming all works as a unit, but once again I found myself questioning the decision to bring in the cleaned up vocal line. Putting that to a side, the track itself is one which I can see working well on a lot of stages, it’s advanced enough to be lifted from a simple tag to something more, something which you feel rather than listen to if that makes sense. All too soon though, Harmless comes into finish the album signifying the end of proceedings. Another track which hurtles onwards at a blistering pace whilst keeping everything firmly in place and working together, this is another track which is going to get crowds encircling the stage and begging for more. I particularly like the progression of the backing guitar line in the chorus part of this track, it’s got a real sense of melody which once again lifts from the raw distortion of the rest of the track.
In all, this is one of those albums which you’ll come back to time and time again and love most of, but to me there are negatives. The cleaner vocal line simply doesn’t work over the raw backing music meaning at times, there can be a sense that the tracks have become disjointed and lost their way. If it were up to me, I would say get rid of the cleaner vocals, keep everything heavy and raw throughout and run with it, as everything else works. The album is the perfect length as you don’t find your attention wandering at any stage so what you’ve got here is something which is close to awesome, but just missing out by a fraction. Based on this, I’ll be interested to hear what comes next for sure!
To find out more about Rise Above The Ruins, check out their Facebook page HERE.
From the second the intro track comes into being you’re pummelled from every direction by rolling drums, hammering guitar lines and roaring vocals, I mean this is straight into it, no messing about or faffing about, just downright heavy bass ridden beats to get you moving along – this must destroy venues on the live scene. Unrelenting until the moment it comes to a close, you can’t help but admire the sheer pace these guys have achieved on this track, it’s pure energy throughout the track and keeps you going from start to finish. Leading in to Above It All, there’s still no break! Kicking into a sludgy riff whilst keeping the vocals powerful, this time layered up as well, the pace continues at breakneck speed, getting you out of your seat to start a pit where ever you are at that moment! Throwing in a softer vocal line, there’s a haunting feeling, something behind the heaviness which breaks things up a little and makes this more accessible. Personally, I’m not convinced it’s needed on the track as the roaring works just fine for me, but it’s a minor part of the track. What I do really like though is the guitar solo which they’ve thrown into the mix, working with the heavy backing track, it elevates everything and once again grabs your attention.
Beneath The Fallen soon comes in to take the lead, opening over a faded in guitar line over a rolling drum backing, this track is slower yet holds all of the power from the previous tracks still. Based around a relatively simply drum beat and pumping guitar line, this is a track which demonstrates the bands ability to craft tracks which are going to get them a serious following – there’s the raw heaviness to it but also a refined sense of melody to keep things moving, and it works. Guttural vocals fill the speakers throughout, once again grabbing you by the throat and throwing you into a mix of power and distortion. Soon though, signalled by a roar, Moments of Despair is upon you, once again throwing rolling drums and riffing guitars at you, adding in another soaring lead snippet to make sure that you’re not getting fed up with the power. Alternating its speed throughout, this is a track which is crafted for the live scene for sure, it’s got the power to get crowds moving, the energy to inspire anyone watching it and enough distortion to have you begging for more. My one question here though is about the cleaned up vocal line – whilst I appreciate it adds in a contrast, I don’t know if it works as part of the music.
Sky follows all of the conventions of the album so far, once again opening with a sludgy guitar line and roaring vocals, adopting a sound akin to the likes of Dark Tranquility at times. The roaring vocals, hammering guitar lines and incredible drumming all works as a unit, but once again I found myself questioning the decision to bring in the cleaned up vocal line. Putting that to a side, the track itself is one which I can see working well on a lot of stages, it’s advanced enough to be lifted from a simple tag to something more, something which you feel rather than listen to if that makes sense. All too soon though, Harmless comes into finish the album signifying the end of proceedings. Another track which hurtles onwards at a blistering pace whilst keeping everything firmly in place and working together, this is another track which is going to get crowds encircling the stage and begging for more. I particularly like the progression of the backing guitar line in the chorus part of this track, it’s got a real sense of melody which once again lifts from the raw distortion of the rest of the track.
In all, this is one of those albums which you’ll come back to time and time again and love most of, but to me there are negatives. The cleaner vocal line simply doesn’t work over the raw backing music meaning at times, there can be a sense that the tracks have become disjointed and lost their way. If it were up to me, I would say get rid of the cleaner vocals, keep everything heavy and raw throughout and run with it, as everything else works. The album is the perfect length as you don’t find your attention wandering at any stage so what you’ve got here is something which is close to awesome, but just missing out by a fraction. Based on this, I’ll be interested to hear what comes next for sure!
To find out more about Rise Above The Ruins, check out their Facebook page HERE.