Freshly unleashed upon my musical radar is JULIET RUIN, a band that I hadn’t come across … until now! I’ve always been curious whenever hearing there’s a band whose lead vocalist can dual vocalise on clean and harsh vocals, so naturally I was interested in what this band had in store for us. Their latest EP Dark Water was an perfect introduction for me to them that allowed me to fathom the depths their sound. Throughout this EP there’s an ever present sensation in that they are a tidal surge of melodic metal that will leave you in waves for more!
The Canadian five-piece thrusts us all head on with the opening title track, and the flowing onslaught of awesomeness that endures on this EP. As the building up to when we first get to hear Jess Ruin’s opening line, I get the feeling that we are indeed hearing the furious heartbeat of the abyssal depths in the ocean encroaching upon us. This abyssal sense is felt through the thought provoking chorus: “Dead of night cycles of fear. Timeless skies all disappear. Why stay, why rot here? Floating in the black in this dark water. Lost ashamed and doomed to repeat.”
The way that the heaviness of the melodies in the songs comes together is superb. The intricacy of how familiar yet so fresh these songs sound are an absolute pleasure to listen and even headbang to.
From the soaring and atmospherically riff laden Cosmic Vertigo, which sets this EP ablaze to great heights “We are so infinitesimal. Oh let’s get cosmic vertigo.” To the punchy bass lines on Fake Stigmata, which adds an thunderous groove to its intensity and the perseveringly powerful EP closer Might “Damned from the start, but resilience is all that we know.” … “Ashеs from the flames. Remadе over again.” This is a well crafted EP for sure.
Throughout this EP, the feeling I get from Jess’s precision of her multifaceted vocals is something so fantastic yet so ferocious. And in the way that she conveys both her clean and harsh vocals in such an unforced, natural manner reminds me of SEVEN SPIRES Adrienne Cowan and AD INFINITUM’s Melissa Bonny.
If you are a fan of bands such as SEVEN SPIRES, JINJER, BUTCHER BABIES, INFECTED RAIN and RAGE OF LIGHT then I would definitely recommend listening to this band and their newest creation in this EP.
Rating: 9/10
Words: Stefan Chilvers
Dark Water is out now.
find JULIET RUIN on Facebook.
