WITHIN THE RUINS "ELITE" ALBUM REVIEW

It's official. Within The Ruins is back! The tech metal giants have just released a third, full-length studio album upon the masses. And you better believe "Elite" marks a hard hitting return from the four-piece.

Coming out of Massachusetts, the band has been brutally wrecking the ear drums of heavy music enthusiasts worldwide for awhile now. This is the kind of group that ignited a spark from the very beginning with an original, heavy approach to their music. It's the type of sound that many other bands only wish they could pull off. Within The Ruins stand far above the majority of the Metalcore / Deathcore pack with their extreme talent, relatively out of the box approach, and a strong signature sound.

Speaking of that signature sound, "Elite" is pretty much everything you've come to expect from Within The Ruins. It's essentially an extension of the bands previous work. Not too much has changed here, but this isn't a bad thing at all. It just means you can confidently anticipate mind-bending technical heaviness, blazing guitar riffs, impressive machine-like drumming, powerful vocal delivery, and a relentless spirit making for an overall epic package. You can tell a good bit of effort went into writing this album as it weaves and twists from song to song, all while staying planted within it's roots.

While listening to this record, it's apparent that the music is consistently strong. This means that most of the tracks are pretty much evenly matched. They all bring a complex, mosh worthy formula directly to the listener. However, some tracks do especially stand out in my mind. These include the not so peaceful "Solace", single "Feeding Frenzy", the instrumental sequel "Ataxia II", blasphemous "I, Blashpheme", "Weightless", and the appropriately named title track. This band is elite and every track has something great going on from "Terminal" to "Dreamland".

I have no direct criticisms of the record itself. It's a well written, intelligent contribution to metal. The only thing is they haven't expanded much on their sound. But to reiterate what has already been stated above, this is a good thing because Within The Ruins brings such an awesome sound to begin with.

And the not so surprising final verdict is... "Elite" makes for a great listening experience through and through. It's incredibly heavy, fun, and moshable to boot. Expectations were set and the band delivered. You can sample the record above. And if you start inexplicably moshing with your surroundings, it's a good sign you should go out and buy the album \m/

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