CoC : Ruination - Visionary Breed : Review

Ruination - _Visionary Breed_
(Goldtrack Records, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10)

Although Ruination were once a doom/death band, neither style has any practical weight on their current melodic atmospheric metal that even reminded me of the somewhat standardized style some Portuguese bands have been choosing lately. This Lithuanian band has its moments during _Visionary Breed_, though; they also have acceptable musicianship, and the sound is good enough (recorded at the Abyss), although the vocals should have been better. The problem with their medium sized songs is that they lack something the band may have had, to some extent, when they were still playing doom/death (I don't know, though, since this is the first material of theirs I've ever heard): globally, _Visionary Breed_ is neither especially heavy (far from that), emotional, doomy, nor even especially melodic -- or rather, especially remarkable by its melodies. What remains is a well performed but average work that tends to conform to the reigning normality more than it should.

(article published 1/9/1998)