Maximum Metal Rating Legend
5 Excellent - Masterpiece. A classic.
4.5-4 Great - Almost perfect records but there's probably a lacking.
3.5 Good - Most of the record is good, but there may be some filler.
3 Average - Some good songs, some bad ones at about a half/half ratio.
2.5-2 Fair - Worth a listen, but best obtained by collectors.
1.5-1 Bad - Major problems with music, lyrics, production, etc.
0 Terrible - Waste of your life and time.

Note: Reviews are graded from 0-5, anything higher or not showing is from our old style. Scores, however, do not reveal the important features. The written review that accompanies the ratings is the best source of information regarding the music on our site. Reviewing is opinionated, not a qualitative science, so scores are personal to the reviewer and could reflect anything from being technically brilliant to gloriously cheesy fun.

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The best way to determine how much you may like certain music is to listen to it yourself.
Band
Voices of Ruin
Title
Born of the Dark
Type
LP/EP
Company
Independent
YOR
2015
Style
Death
3/19/2016 - Review by: Greg Watson
Voices of Ruin
Born of the Dark




Company: Independent
Release: 2015
Genre: Death
Reviewer: Greg Watson

  • Rekindled my faith in death metal



  • SoCal Death metal outfit Voices of Ruin should change their name to Voices of Restoration! I know the name doesn't have the same ring but this band has rekindled my faith in death metal and lit the beacons of Gondor for all other death metal bands to answer the call!

    "Born of the Dark" is hands down the best death metal album I've heard in a long, long time. Combining melodic intros with death metal riffing, black metal blastings and some of their own flavor, Voices of Ruin have created the recipe for a bloody good death metal album. Putting this in to words is damn near impossible. The sound on "Born of the Dark" has that feeling of being something equal parts familiar and fresh. I just know that when I listened to this release that I was totally and completely blown away by what was carried in to my ears. With bone crushing riffs, soaring melodic guitar work, aggressive percussion and one hell of a vocalist, "Born of the Dark" is the album that will bring death metal fans in zombie-like hordes back to the fold and reawaken the rabid animal inside us all. Tracks like "The Awakening", "A Ghost Inside" and "Fallen" polarize your auditory senses before sneaking in with a hammer to crush your skull to a bloody pulp.

    Vocalist Dave Barrett has a very unique delivery, combining black metal elements with a bit of a death metal bark to give you a style of vocal somewhat familiar yet also very different. His anger and raw emotion course through the songs and your ears. Guitarists Tom Barrett and Steve Carlton deliver a melodic punch to the solar plexus and then follow that up with razor sharp riffing to flay your skin from your face. Then drummer Lonnie Vanhorn and bassist Wally Myers come in to finish the job by mashing you to tiny little bits with the rhythm section that shakes the foundations of the Earth.

    The production doesn't muddle anything up and adds a surgical clarity to the sound, allowing you to experience the assault unencumbered. Voices of Ruin have roared in the face of a genre that was mired in stagnation and have called out all the other bands to step up to the plate. This band will become very well known shortly and I suggest you become a part of that trend and go out and buy this album before you are left out of the carnage!


    • 1 :REVIEW COUNT
      5 :AVE RATING

    ALL REVIEWS FOR: VOICES OF RUIN
    TITLE
    DOR
    COMPANY
    REVIEWER DATE MADE RATING
    Born of the Dark
    2015
    Independent
    Greg Watson3/19/2016
    5

    ALL INTERVIEWS FOR: VOICES OF RUIN
    INTERVIEW INTERVIEWER DATE TAGLINE
    Dave BarrettGreg Watson8/12/2016"Going Beyond Categories"


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