17/11/03

MY RUIN / THE HORROR OF BEAUTY

The first thing that strikes you about the 4th studio album from My Ruin is how heavy the guitar sound is, it reminds me in places of early Sabbath, that really dirty heavy sound that Tony Iommi use to have during the early to mid 70’s.

Terri spits out her venom in her usual aggressive but charming manner and one of the targets is former label "Spitfire", I don’t know the politics that went on but it pissed her off big time by the sound of it and I know that’s not a position I would like to find myself in, but it does make a very good song. The first proper song "Made To Measure" is a swipe at the generalisation that one size fits all when it clearly doesn’t and is a plea to treat us all as individuals. "Hot In The House Of God" is My Ruin in fine Metallic style, Terri screams her best, then the retro sounding guitars kick in and it turns into a giant of a number.

Female fronted Metal bands have come a long way in the last few years and seem to be more readily accepted by the audience and hacks alike and I think that Terri has been one of the main caricatures in this vanguard and the fact that the rest of the band are top notch musicians helps to back up the argument. If you haven’t heard much from this band, shame on you I can recommend this enough.

DOWNLOAD : "Made To Measure" from the Century Media site above

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 50 mins + 14 TRACKS + CD ROM