The Ruiner

Devastating. Few other words could fully capture the intensity and impact of the third Made Out of Babies album, The Ruiner. Here, the quartet hits harder than ever, but also with a stupefying creative subtlety and decisive finality. Those who'd seen and/or heard Made Out of Babies over the course of the past four years and two albums would certainly attest to the band's longstanding intimidating grunt and snarl. But, The Ruiner is incontrovertibly MOoB's most inspired and complex album to date. While it retains the group's trademark ferocious hybrid of PJ Harvey, Jesus Lizard, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Big Black, there's a pronounced emphasis on melody herein, providing much wider range for the vocal acrobatics of Julie Christmas. Guitarist Brendan Tobin layers crafty melodies and soaring effects into his leaden six-string strata, as bassist Cooper reveals an immense melodic depth to his lunging attack and drummer Matthew Egan maintains his relentlessly driving lean-in-to-the-beat blood-splattering rhythms, but also sounds more focused, deliberate and intense than ever before. The sum total transforms into something immensely powerful that will endure for ages beyond them.