Album
Type: Full Length
Date
Released: 14/10/2014
Label:
Profound Lore
‘Venus
Armata’ CD/DD track listing:
1.
Soften Our Evil Hearts (11:15)
2. Red Sulphur (06:41)
3. Marriage In Death (09:00)
4. Soothing But Cruel (06:10)
5. Belly Of The Closed House (09:55)
6. Torture Of Fire (05:14)
7. Venus Armata (16:19)
2. Red Sulphur (06:41)
3. Marriage In Death (09:00)
4. Soothing But Cruel (06:10)
5. Belly Of The Closed House (09:55)
6. Torture Of Fire (05:14)
7. Venus Armata (16:19)
The
Band:
S.
| Vocals, Instruments
Genevieve
| Vocals, Instruments, Lyrics, Visual Concepts
Review:
Darkness
in music should be unable to be ignored. Darkness should chill and
silence. As a concept it sits easily enough, as real aural expression
it remains elusive to all but a few artists to harness. Menace Ruine
have no neat descriptor, every tag feels futile, cheap.
Menace
Ruine simply sound like darkness.
Other
reviews will attempt to smear genres across ‘Venus Armata’ in a
flurry of pigeonholing and the inability to simply let it be, like
the vexed apes from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ throwing rocks at the
confounding obsidian column. As with the Profound Lore signed
Quebecois band’s previous offering, the regal ‘Alight In Ashes’,
Menace Ruine’s latest release exists somewhere between all planes,
achieving a sound that is at once softly organic and coldly
mechanical, a creature not quite living but far from lifeless.
On
‘Venus Armata’ the band have noticeably warmed their sound from
previous releases. Chord progressions glow ephemerally through the
murk, and melody comes with less need to weather harsh tones and
atonality. Crucially, Menace Ruine do not sacrifice their character
in doing so; the album opens to a distorted bell (Lord knows if it
actually is or not) that roars more than rings, reminiscent of Akira
Yamaoka’s crepuscular work on the ‘Silent Hill’ soundtracks,
setting the tone for the 64 minutes to come.
Aside
from the generous layers of anonymous noise and manipulated tones,
the primary composition of the band’s sound comes from the
combination of synth, vocals and percussion. But to narrow the scope
of the music to such simple terms is a gross disservice to the end
result. The synths scream, whisper, threaten, entice, weep. The
percussion sits like the muffled heartbeat of a sleeping giant, deep
and steady, barely present and all the more perfect for it. The
vocals are the one anchor the band has to this world we live in,
clean and with as much human character as the instrumentation
beautifully lacks.
Whether
plaintively ringing out a single line or birthing an unholy crescendo
the band just seem to make it work. More adept listeners could
probably dissect their songwriting skills better than myself, but
this seems firmly secondary to the attention Menace Ruine pay to
every noise created. Few bands, if any, can summon the thick
atmosphere that they do. While ‘Venus Armata’ fails to capture
the utter depths that ‘Alight In Ashes’ did with its tone
masterfully ensnaring both otherwordly psychosis and mournful
tranquillity, their latest release does not attempt to emulate this
and confidently sits as alone as its own being.
You
won’t find yourself listening to this album every week, or even
every month. When you do spin it, however, you will find yourself in
another place, one you hesitate to visit, yet once there cannot bear
to leave. Love it or hate it, you will not leave this album
indifferent to it, and for the discerning listener that really counts
for something.
Words
by: Jake Mazlum
You
can pick up a copy here
For
more information:
