BURNING STONE

I listened to the earlier Ruins EPs and Stonehenge prior to this, all of which sound like they were recorded from the bottom of a well, and a re a brutal thrashing mess. As many reviewers say here, Burning Stone is perhaps the better entry point into listening to Ruins, as its a lot more polished and produced. It also contains a bit more progression and diversity in terms of the styles used.

The opening track Zasca Cosca and third track Praha in Spring are perfect examples, still containing the brutality that is Ruins' main point of difference, but also with some genuine structure and quality musicianship. Vocals throughout the album have similarities and differences with Magma Zeuhl. The language is fictitious, and there are the high-pitched shrieks synonymous with Klaus Blasquiz, but they are much more cartoony than other exponents of the genre. Tracks like Onyx and Shostak Ombrich do show that Ruins could do the foreboding instrumental style of Zeuhl though.

There is a place for the absolutely mental - Power Shift for example sounds like they got Mr Blobby involved on vocals (one for Brits of a particular vintage there), but for me the best run of tracks is Real Jam; Misonta; Spazm Cambilist - all great rhythmic tracks with a light-hearted feel thanks to the inclusion of marimba.