OMEN

'Omen' - Within The Ruins (4/10)

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.

Omen is a rather interesting EP from American technical deathcore act Within the Ruins. Rather than filling the whole release with original material, the band has decided to cover two songs from artists that I wouldn't have previously associated with them - "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas and "Fight Fire With Fire" by Metallica. Interesting picks for this hyper-technical deathcore act, indeed. I'll say right off the bat that, despite their unique approach to these iconic tracks, their versions are disappointing, to say the least. The band's original compositions aren't a whole lot better, either. My biggest issue with Within the Ruins has always been their focus on technicality over good songwriting, and that's as apparent as ever on Omen. A decent purchase for fans of the band, but completely unessential for everyone else.

The music here is exactly what we've come to expect from Within the Ruins over their previous few releases. Standard "chug-chug-chug-breakdown" deathcore with a bunch of wanky guitar sections added for additional technicality. The original compositions are slightly more interesting than the unbearable version of "Carry on Wayward Son", but their take on "Fight Fire With Fire" is probably the most interesting thing here. Not by much, though - I'll take the Metallica version any day of the week. The only saving grace for Omen is the excellent musicianship - these guys are some damn good musicians, and their technical abilities are highly admirable. I just wish they would focus a bit more of that talent on writing some memorable songs...

I wasn't a big fan of Invade from last year, but Omen is a step down in quality from that album. Within the Ruins have tons of potential to become the most powerful force in the deathcore scene, but their seeming inability to write memorable songs really serves as a major setback. Fans of the band and deathcore in general may find interest in Omen, even though I can certainly think of a few deathcore albums from this year that are much more impressive. 1.5 stars are the most I can give here.