Love Amongst Ruin- Love Amongst Ruin
If you haven't heard of Love Amongst Ruin yet, it may interest you to be told that Steve Hewitt, the front-man and concept-fashioner of this band is in fact 'that drummer out of Placebo'. Yeah, thought that'd get an 'ohhhh' of surprise and an eyebrow raise out of you. Not only that, he's embarked on this new venture like a musical Columbus gathering all kinds of aural flavours and excitement from far-reaching and disparate lands of sound. So expect a bit of a comparison marathon here. A comparathon?
First off, this is a perfectly decent album. The atmospheric swathes of sound, steady and an often sulky pulse like on track 'Come On Say It' suggests that this is a band that would fare well performing live, even just on the back of one album. Furthermore there are at least one or two flashes of plain, good old-fashioned brilliance. Opener 'So Sad (Fade)' is a beefy slab of rock n' roll that is welcomingly fledgling-Feeder-like in both it's production and sound. It's one of the tracks on the album that I can imagine would come across as sweaty and ballsy live; probably with plenty of bright white light flashes leaving phantom silhouettes dancing around in your retinas. Or maybe that's an artistic vision I should keep to myself.
On 'Running' they truly rag it with a guitar riff so chunky it'd make Josh Homme blush. Just to put it in perspective for you, it'd be perfect for Phill Jupitus to phonetically 'chugga-chug-chug-chug' along to on the 'Intro's' round on 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks'. As a complete wildcard comparison, you would be excused for having the dazzlingly delicious image of Jared Leto pop into your head upon hearing the intro to 'Truth'... it is very unexpectedly very 30 Seconds To Mars... but if Mr Leto was a bit sullen after a long day.
The absolute triumph of the record is undoubtedly 'Blood & Earth', a stormingly delicious slice of uncut, filthy rock n' roll; the likes of which hasn't really been prevalent since the saddening disappearance of Aussie garage-rock revivalists The Vines. This track is one of those that gets better with every listen. It's the sort of song you can imagine making an appearance on a 'Fifa' or film soundtrack. Cheeky riffs, mucky guitar, repetitive in the most anthemic way possible. They are clearly a fan of the old lo-fi vocal effects as they crop up on a fair few tracks, but they do suit the BRMC-worthy 'motorika' that this, and most of the album has been heavily steeped in. In a nutshell, I love this track. You will want to go sweat your proverbial nuts off to it.
This is a pretty solid album. It is laced with true marvels and oozing with character, but, at the other end of the scale however, we do have dabblings with the bland and forgettable. It is of course forgiveable, as despite what Sum 41 thought back in the day, it is nigh on miraculous to have all killer and no filler on an album. We are looking at you here, 'Alone' and 'Home'. They're not particularly offensive in any way but they are rather nondescript and feel a bit like shunned Kasabian cast-offs. But in the grand scheme of things, that might not seem like too much of a negative to some.
If you like your music meaty with a slathering of sulky sauce, have a nosh on Love Amongst Ruin.