RuinThrone – The Unconscious Mind of Arda
RuinThrone – The Unconscious Mind of Arda
Rockshots Records
Release Date: 13/01/2023
Running Time: 53:00
Review by Rory Bentley
7/10
Despite my now infamous disdain for the vast majority of Power Metal, I am a well-known lover of bombastic German lads Blind Guardian. Their last album strolled into my 2022 top 20, and I regularly delve into their immaculate back catalogue in a way that I would never do for the Helloweens and Hammerfalls of this world. They just have more bollocks on them and a level of aggression that I need to make the more florid moments palatable. Someone else that clearly loves The Bards at least as much as I do is Italian Tolkien-inspired Power Metal mob RuinThrone. They love them so much they’ve essentially wrote “Nightfall In Middle Earth” again. Is it as good as that cast-iron classic? No, of course not! However, the results are actually a lot stronger than one might expect.
I must confess this album was originally floated as an option when Simon Black decided to punish Dark Juan for never following the review template, the idea being that we’ll give him something that sucks to review every time he goes rogue, which speaking as someone that helps out with the proofing on the website is A LOT! Seriously you should see the stuff we have to take out. In fact, no – you really shouldn’t. In the end it fell to another band to incur the wrath of one of his terrifying rants, because dear reader, I checked out two tracks from this album and I thought they were GREAT!
Although the whole album does not quite match these sonic levels, there’s loads of stuff to enjoy here and the band shows genuine potential of growing into a formidable force in the world of ‘Power Metal that I can tolerate’. The first big plus is the almost unheard-of use to big nasty seven string guitars. The genre is not known for its low-end grooves and crushing riffs but that’s exactly what we get here. “The Dreamweaver” (Full marks for unintentionally reminding me of Garth Marenghi) is so heavy and chunky you could fashion a Yorkie bar out of it, as theatrical, layered vocals collide with pure muscular audio beef. In addition, it could well be the only Power Metal song to feature a beatdown stinky enough to crowdkill a goblin.
I am also a big fan of the use of harsh vocals employed throughout, particularly when late album rager ‘The Eldest’ kicks into gear. They’re certainly not the first band in the genre to add guttural snarls to the florid sheen of fantastical Metal, but it’s definitely one of the more successful examples and gives and extra punch to the more intense sections thanks to the proficiency of the performance (there’s nothing more cringy than weak harsh vocals) and the fact that band don’t go to the well to often
Production-wise things are highly impressive as well, with each composition sounding suitably cinematic, particularly the chunky late album epic ‘For Those Who Remain’ which feels like a whole orchestra getting chucked at you by an angry cave troll. This is all the more impressive as you’ve got to think this band have nowhere near the budget of your big Symphonic Nuclear Blast type bands. The only aspect that makes things sound a little less grandiose in places is the choice of keyboard tones here and there, which sound a little too dated for my tastes, but again this is a sonic choice rather than a budgetary constraint. ‘In Penumbria’ in particular goes far too early Dream Theater to my ears during the solo section, but hey, different strokes different… I don’t know, orcs or something. I can’t just pull these fantasy references out my arse forever guys, I should be reviewing some French band that sounds like Madball instead of this.
Vocally Haedus puts a real shift in, moving between raspy storyteller and mournful minstrel all the way to growling beast. Despite an admirable attempt to diversify his approach though, the Hansi influence is plain as day in the layered vocals and dramatic growls. This can only ever draw unfavourable comparisons, and sometimes he really doesn’t stick the landing and ends up sounding like Louis Armstrong. Which is hilarious but probably not what the band were shooting for.
To be fair if we hadn’t had a frankly spectacular Blind Guardian album within the last 4 months, I’d probably be a lot higher on this one. As it stands though, this is great craic for the majority of the run time and I’d definitely be up for checking out the next one.
‘Earendil’ Official Music video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Prologue
02. The Dreamweaver
03. I Am The Night
04. Earendil
05. The Past Is Yet To Come
06. Where The Wise Men Stop
07. In Penumbra
08. The Eldest
09. Blessed By Loneliness
10. For Those Who Remain
11. Where You Belong
LINE-UP:
Vocals – Haedus
Drums – Francesco Comerci
Guitar – Nicolò de Maria
Guitar – Luca Grossi
Bass – Alessandro Finocchiaro
Keyboard – Giorgio Mannucci
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rory Bentley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
