Arise and Ruin-Night Storms Hailfire

Victory
2009



Arise and Ruin hail from the Canadian city of Guelph, Ontario. I am not sure if it's their surroundings or their upbringing or what, but these guys play a style of metal core that is quite likable. The main riffs are simple, but they maintain enough intensity and variance to be interesting. Even the breakdowns are better than many of their peers. The vocals are a tad monotone, but the raw enthusiasm helps make up for some of that. In fact the whole band play with enough conviction to carry this material along fairly well. The heaviness level is sufficient too which is a plus and something that two many metalcore bands fail to devote enough attention to. They have a distinct advantage of having been given an admirable production job that has everything sounding very much in your face. If there is a downside to this CD (and there is) it's that the songs start to sound very much alike after awhile. They lay down the groundwork early on and then stick to it perhaps more than they should have. Still in the end their pounding style does enough to make up their lack of risk taking.