DIGITAL RUIN

The second album from American progressive metal band Digital Ruin is interesting, and certainly warrants playing a few times, but I found that it didn't quite capture me as I thought it would. There are some interesting parts of songs, with the guitars and vocals coming together just right, but there are plenty of times when somehow it doesn't quite gel. With Savatage and Queensryche being obvious influences one would imagine that this would be a stormer of an album but it isn't.

Probably not an album to be dismissed as quickly as I have, but I just found it difficult to maintain the interest. Maybe another time.

Feedback #57, March 2000

Digital Ruin are the kind of progressive metal band that I don't realy enjoy. They play that type of dark, depressive progressive metal that I don't like almost at all, I never was a fan of this type of prog metal and I never will be. Their second release from 2000 named Dwelling in the out issued at Inside out , is to me a real desaster, or at least almost, the sound, the pieces, the voice all are forgetable here, only the keybords and some guitar parts save the album not to be a mediocre at best. I don't realy find the masterful parts that are in the description of the band written so nice, realy where the hell are those parts, not if I'm listning to this album 100 times, here are mid tempo pieces with boring arrangements and dark elements added on every piece. I have nothing against this band , realy ,all the time I try to be hones in reviews, no matter if is a 2 ir 5 stars album, this time is a 2-2.5 for me. Not my kind of prog metal, I have this album since it was released and I don't think it was spining more then 5 times in 10 years, no wonder now, because the music is terimbly unpleasent for my ears. Not a forte track here, almost all sounds the same, mid tempo pieces with not realy skillfull parts, sometimes sounds like an indie alternative band but more on metalic side. Not recommend , not even for prog metal fans, not to mention the rest. Anyway great cover art, realy.

After their first album Listen Digital Ruin made another masterpiece, capable to compete with the first one. And soon after Dwelling In The Out the band called it a day - A huge lost for the whole progressive metal scene! Anyhow, both albums are very rare masterworks now and they are very hard to find. If you do find one, buy it at once!

The overall atmosphere here is again very dark, depressing and sinister, but this time it's not about thematic album; nevetherless, this album is very unitary and tight; better and better songs follow one another and they combine as an excellent album taking the listener into a dark, frightening trip into the emotional heavy world of Digital Ruin. If you try to seek a weak song here, you're in the wrong place, try elsewhere. Like in Listen, the sounds are again somewhat thick but again this might serve the dark atmosphere.

Still the showing off solos are notably absent; the band builds its music with a tight interplay, powerful riffs and comps, strong, dynamic percussion, howling keyboards, sampled sounds,... so the bands musical expression haven't basically changed since the first album at all - individual performances are only auxilary to the principle: Music, Emotions, the Feel, the Atmosphere, but only the thematic stucture is left behind. That actually degreases the vivid stuctures and multilayered vocal lines of this album, making it sound more straightforward and less progressive, but the progressiveness is still strongly there, hidden below the emotions.

The lyrics are an excellent example of how very dark and depressing words can be written without naive demonic subjects, but the darkness is inside onself and the surrounding and things in it are dark and depressing by only who look at them. This is everyday darkness of life, loneliness, desolation and such. These subjects are sung with a great pain and agony of mister Pacheco - He's definitely one of the greatest singers of the genre, his empathy and style just belongs here like a fist in the eye.

United States seems to be a some kind of home of the progressive metal for most of the notable prog metal orchestras emerge from there - as does (or did) Digital Ruin too. Their career was short and they produced only two albums, but Oh Boy they're on the very top of the genre! The first album Listen is easily one of the geatest prog metal albums ever! I'm not really so keen to prog metal in general, but more to heavy, slow and DARK prog, and that's the point where my interest and Digital Ruin's music meet! For this is Heavy, depressing, crawling, emotional, spacey and highly original.

Of the most remarkable things in Listen is the unique singer (Matthew Pacheco) and vocals overall. Pacheco has got a high and clear voice, but yet his singing style is absolutely brilliant! It's sinister, depressing, creepy and frightening. Occationally it sounds like he has to do a lots of work to get a voice out of his mouth, like he'd been strangled at the same time. You should really hear that! Besides leading vocals, a lots of different vocals and methods are used to carry on the story - this is a concept album - narrations, speeches, samples and layered poly-vocals of Matthew and others. They are also used to deepening the story and the feeling of it - in which they've succeeded 100% - 'Listen' is extremely intensive musical journey, an experience one shouldn't miss.

The style of vocals fits in to this dark progressive metal fantastically. The theme of the album goes on with songs, narrations, interludes... the individual songs aren't really separable. The playing is as brilliant as everything on this album, it forces you to live it along with shiver in your spine, want it or not. The music is mostly heavy, slow, crawling and depressing, but very vivid and variative. The several vocal lines are the main leading instrument and thus the guitar solos, for example, are mostly absent and more like in a supportive role. These are still played with very impressive style and skill. The music, song structures, vocals, the whole thing is truly unique for metal making it a very progressive whole.

If there's something to hope for, it would be a more clear production, because sounds are bit chunky and dusty. Actually, it may only support the dark atmosphere... In the morning they will come... Brilliant!

Good musicians + terrible voice - originality = mediocrity.

That equation sums all that I have to say about this copy/paste exercise.

Let me just very briefly elaborate in each constant in the equation:

Good musicians: well, the guys can play, and very well. Great guitarists, a very good drummer and very capable bass player. There's no room for complaining about the instrumentalists. The recording, by the way, is cristal-clear, so one can enjoy the quality of the players even more.

Terrible voice: DREAM THEATER's James Labrie has always divided the fans: either you love him or you can't stand him. I happen to like his vocals a lot, he's one of my favorite vocalists in all prog. Now, what would happen if suddenly Labrie had a throat infection and couldn't sing, and his vocals chords were damaged in the process? Well, enter DIGITAL RUIN's singer to give us an answer: HE. He's exactly what I just described, Labrie after an earthquake, something like that. He's this band's weakest link. If you like DT and ever complained about LaBrie vocals during the AWAKE era (when he had problems and couldn't sing as well as always), then imagine that voice, take all the character off of it, and you have DIGITAL RUIN's voice.

Originality (or lack thereof): The music is very similar to DREAM THEATER, with hints of FATES WARNING and DREAM THEATER, also with influence from thrash metal and DT. There's not much originality in the music.

Mediocrity: this music, besides all the problems I mentioned, is mediocre. I couldn't find a single chorus that was memorable, a single solo that played with my heart and with my mind. I could find a couple ofm decent riffs (mostly in the title track) but even the song structures are very simple.

Not a great album. It's not a tragedy as it has good musicianship, but it's not enough to warrant any recommendation.

This is a dark, heavy, atmospheric and somewhat muddy sounding release. The lyrics are about the thoughts of different people who suffering emotionally. We hear their anger, fears, desperation and defiance. The music itself reminds me a little of FATES WARNING at their heaviest, while the vocalist's tone is similar to James LaBrie from DREAM THEATER but his singing isn't as good and he seems to be down in the mix. This album is relentless in it's heaviness and rawness.

"Living For Yesterday" features some synths in the intro as heavy riffs come thundering in. Vocals after a minute. We get a calm 3 minutes in as the guitar plays a laidback solo. Emotional vocals follow. The heaviness returns 4 1/2 minutes in and gets even heavier. A ticking clock ends it. "Darkest Day" opens with a killer guitar riff. This is heavy !Synths and vocals before a minute. A ripping guitar solo after 3 minutes. "Dwelling In The Out" opens with slow, heavy riffs before vocals arrive. This song is about the emotional pain that is felt and endured when a lover leaves.The slow sludgey passages are contrasted with the not so heavy(still heavy) sections where the guitar really grinds it out. Guitar solo 4 1/2 minutes in is a highlight. "The Forgotten" opens with gun fire as this song is about the casualties of war(the forgotten). There are spoken words in this one as the guitar riffs and heavy drums light it up. A calm with reserved vocals after 2 minutes. The sound is crushing and the vocals are emotional pleading "Remember me... " I love the calm that returns again to end it. Fantastic tune ! "Adrift" opens with a catchy beat with lots of atmosphere. Reserved vocals arrive. Heaviness comes in as the sound builds. Synths on the chorus. It lightens before heaviness returns 4 minutes in.

"Night Falls Forever" opens with piano as heavy riffs come and go. Vocals come in softly as piano continues.That all changes as the TOOL-like drumming comes in with passionate vocals and riffs.The heaviness is here to stay. A blistering guitar solo 5 minutes in. "Machine Cage" is a science fiction based song. Synths swirl as a heavy undercurrent of bass, guitar and drums rumble and riff. A surprisingly tasteful guitar solo 3 minutes in. Nice. Love the raw guitar solo that follows. "Letting Go" features relentless and punishing riffs. Synths and vocals join in.They step it up a bit 3 1/2 minutes in. "The Agony Column" opens with some atmosphere before some nice heavy riffs come in. Vocals follow. This might be the best vocal performance on the whole disc. The chorus isn't as heavy and it really sounds good. Guitar solo after 3 minutes and the song gets heavier a minute later. "Along The Way" is the final and longest track on the album. It moves at a fairly slow pace. It opens with piano as vocals and heaviness soon arrive. The vocals and riffs are outstanding 2 minutes in. There are some vocal samples in this one as well 4 minutes and 5 1/2 minutes in. In between we get a screaming guitar solo.

Stay away if your depressed ! This is a dirty, raw and heavy release. 3.5 stars.

First of all i have hear alot of people saying this is not a progressive album.Hey these guys never said it was.I have heard alot of people say also that the production was muddy and the songs have no substance.I think otherwise,the songs lyrically are well written and Matt has a very sincere original voice.maybe they arent 100 percent original but who is?Dream Theatre ripped off Kansas but thgey did there own thing with it,this CD is totally worth checking out and dare i say its nearly a metal masterpeice

First of all, this isn't a progressive album whichever way you look at it: all songs follow basic pop structures, and the actual music is melodic thrash riffery without the tiniest hint of creativity. The only reason this album has come to be regarded as "prog metal" is because of their sound: heavy, buzzing guitars, cheesy keyboard lines in the background, powerful, but slightly raspy and annoying vocals - it's all way too reminiscent of Dream Theater and Symphony X for the comparison to be ignored. However, the aforementioned bands, while sometimes also lacking in creativity, definitely know how to write an interesting composition. These guys don't. It's the same old power chord chugging, conventional harmonies and predictable vocal lines. A couple of songs from this album might be catchy enough to be played on the radio ( "Darkest Day" , for example), but that's all it has to offer. It's not surprising that ex- Digital Ruin members are now playing in a self-described nu-metal band.

Three years ago,I bought this album after reading some reviews that considered this band as very original, dark, and some other interesting adjectives, put it on my cd player and the first song "living for yesterday" put me on the way of something very dark and even original... the rest of the songs, ALL OF THEM are unbearable, boring, repetitive, impossible to point out any member of the group, and really far from the concepts of prog music. This is not a prog album at all. Every song has the same structure like any simple rock group which hasn´t got anything to do with progressive rock. Simple, easy, boring... Do yourself a favour and don´t buy this disapointing album which goes to nowhere.

Although Dream Theater influences are clear on "Dwelling In The Out," it's just as clear that Digital Ruin is no DT clone. "Dwelling" doesn't show off operatic singing or grand keyboard orchestration; instead, the album is fueled by dark, distorted guitars, bringing some serious Megadeth/Metallica/Pantera-style heaviness into a classic prog-metal atmosphere.

As is expected from progressive rock bands, Digital Ruin's performances are excellent, but songwriting is the album's real strength. Every song is dynamic, moody, and emotionally affecting prog-metal without gratuitous intricacy or excessive instrumental noodling; the engagingly energetic "Adrift" and the bracingly intense, vaguely Queensrychean drama of "Along The Way" are particularly compelling.

For fans of prog's darker, heavier side, "Dwelling" is an excellent statement from a band that deserves our attention.