OMEN

An EP to keep the flow of music consistent without necessarily having to make the effort of a full-length, Within The Ruins' 'Omen' is a short burst of new music from this progressive deathcore act. Although this release may already have been anticipated by fans, this is my first experience thus far with the band, and already, I can say some things about them. First, it is clear that they are strong musicians. Particularly in regards to the dual guitar work of Schelt and Cocchi, Within The Ruins are able to make technical music, and pull it off with relative power. Unfortunately- as becomes painfully evident in one of the two covers they do here- Within The Ruins suffers from a lack of variety in their sound, and paired with some of the less glorious aspects of their sound (ahem, breakdowns), 'Omen' is a somewhat underwhelming release.

There are four songs here, the first two being originals, and the latter two being a pair of tracks from bands that no doubt influenced Within The Ruins when they were growing up. As far as these two originals go, it is pretty standard fare for this band. They alternate between crunchy breakdowns and more impressive technical riffs that make no secret of the band's skill with music theory. Neither song has any grasp of melody, instead focusing on heaviness and technicality. This can be quite impressive to listen to from a technical front, but in terms of listening for enjoyment goes, I do feel that Within The Ruins is focusing a little too hard on being 'br00tal' (whatever that means), rather than good, memorable songwriting. These songs generally feel rhapsodic in nature. Although there are recurring ideas here and there, there are not any parts or structures to the originals that stand out of the technical forays and well-executed, but forgettably generic breakdowns. The vocals here also suffer from the same flat tough guy growls that is standard for this genre.

The two covers are actually what I was more interested in here. Although I had never experienced a Within The Ruins album before 'Omen', you can tell alot about a band by the songs they choose to cover, as well as the way they perform them. Choosing a well known song by the progressive classic rock band Kansas and a Metallica track from 'Ride The Lightning', 'Carry On My Wayward Son' and 'Fight Fire With Fire' are both great songs for a band like this to dabble with. Unfortunately, the sort of classy dynamic from the original 'Carry On' is lost here. Here, we hear the classic Kansas track butchered with breakdowns and deathcore vocals. Maybe I was naive for expecting any different, but I was sort of hoping that Within The Ruins would do something unexpected with the track. 'Fight Fire With Fire' is obviously a much heavier track by nature, and the band does a fairly functional cover of it, although there isn't much all too impressive about it.

'Omen' is not a great EP from this band, but their skill and style is fairly solid, and I would not hesitate to call them one of the better acts in the deathcore sound.

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