ALL TO RUIN
'Parables', the debut EP from five-piece, Port Talbot based band All To Ruin, has all the ingredients of something I shouldn't like. They are yet another modern metalcore band; chugging one note riffs follow the drums and, when they don't, the rampant double kicks follow the guitars. The songs are pretty unoriginal (we've heard them all before from bands such as Bullet From My Valentine & Killswitch Engage), there are lots of screamed vocals and Kerrang magazine like them (I'm never sure if that last one is a blessing or a curse these days). Now, if you've read any of my previous reviews, you'll know that the various alternative and metalcore genres are not my cup of tea but... there is something that sets All To Ruin apart from many of their peers and that's the vocals of Aaron Roberts. Okay, I'm not suddenly going to proclaim him the best thing since roast beef and Yorkshire pud but he's a bit different from the norm and it makes the experience just that little bit more palatable for me.
The whole band are obviously talented musicians (there are just so many around these days) but the songwriting is where All To Ruin fall down slightly. There is certainly melody and the, mostly, cleanly sung choruses make all the right noises but once 'Parables', and its five tracks, has finished I struggle to really remember anything. What does go in their favour though is the production from Martyn 'Ginge' Ford & Matt Bond (Slipknot, Trivium and others) which is extremely good. Fans of this genre are almost certainly going to feast on the likes of 'Vultures' & 'Under The Shade' pretty much like a wake of vultures in the shade but, of course, it's not going to be easily digestible for everyone. All To Ruin have a vocalist that can hopefully give them the edge that a band needs, especially in an overpopulated market, to make them stand out from the crowd but they really have to give him some slightly better songs before it all clicks into place. If they can do that then I might finally be saying that I'm a fan of a metalcore band. Believe me that took a lot of courage to admit!
The whole band are obviously talented musicians (there are just so many around these days) but the songwriting is where All To Ruin fall down slightly. There is certainly melody and the, mostly, cleanly sung choruses make all the right noises but once 'Parables', and its five tracks, has finished I struggle to really remember anything. What does go in their favour though is the production from Martyn 'Ginge' Ford & Matt Bond (Slipknot, Trivium and others) which is extremely good. Fans of this genre are almost certainly going to feast on the likes of 'Vultures' & 'Under The Shade' pretty much like a wake of vultures in the shade but, of course, it's not going to be easily digestible for everyone. All To Ruin have a vocalist that can hopefully give them the edge that a band needs, especially in an overpopulated market, to make them stand out from the crowd but they really have to give him some slightly better songs before it all clicks into place. If they can do that then I might finally be saying that I'm a fan of a metalcore band. Believe me that took a lot of courage to admit!
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Self-released
EP
PARABLES
Review by Rick Tilley
RUNNING TIME:
17:43
RELEASE DATE:
23rdSept 2013
TRACK LISTING
1) As We Exit
2) A Part of a Line
3) The King is Dead
4) Under the Shade
5) Vultures
2) A Part of a Line
3) The King is Dead
4) Under the Shade
5) Vultures
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
UK
"...there is something that sets All To Ruin apart from many of their peers and that's the vocals..."
