Row of Ashes - Tide Into Ruin

Row of Ashes is a post metal band from the UK. Like a lot of post metal bands they do have a strong hardcore influence but I found this album to be much more groove oriented with a strong punk rock energy within it.  I haven’t heard them before but their latest album, “Tide Into Ruin,” is fantastic!  

These elements pair very well with the vocals which have a desperate abrasive approach to the yelling and screaming that straddles a line between hardcore and extreme metal. I enjoy how their sound is successful at teetering between a raw, straight forward sound and a dense, atmospheric one. The interplay between these dynamics makes for a compelling listen. 

The production is great—it’s tight enough to capture the songs’ details yet open enough to let the band’s insanity shine through without anything to really hold it back other than the finality of knowing it can’t be held back.   We can’t be hurt if we accept it, right?  Wrong. This album will shred you to pieces. 

If the opening song, “Leveller,” doesn’t make you want to start a random street fight with hobos, then are you even a fan of music?  It begins with a massive groove—and the drums really hammer this in too while complimenting the sound.  As the riffs break down so do the drums, raucous noise flying everywhere like a house through a tornado. The last thirty seconds are BLISTERING with some of the heaviest riffs/breakdowns I’ve heard in this second half of the year.

Noise is turned into sound in “Imber,” and listening to this song on my headphones made me feel like I was losing my grip on reality, especially the opening forty seconds or so.  The songwriting is unique across the song, seemingly random riffs that are actually barely controlled restless energy.  The guitars and bass cascade outwards, energy blast like a bomb that somehow pulls you in closer. 

Despite their near constant acts of violence, the band is just as convincing when they take a more atmospheric route, such as on “Wake.”  This instrumental uses sound bytes instead of vocals but it spends the first half of the song building up to hell itself breaking loose into a total collapse.  It’s actually a rather frightening song.

“Wretch,” is under three minutes but every second is used to shovel smash faces.  The opening riffs are stark as hell and the cadence of the vocals against the riffs is catchy.  The middle portion is more atmospheric tinges, the post elements coming out in force.  But the bass and drums keep it all grounded, ensuring wholesale destruction.

The final song, “Coda,” takes everything about the album, rolls it up, and spits it back out in the form of a seven and a half minute long dirge.  It’s a fitting way to end the album and it fades out into static noise like the reality of the aftermath of an apocalyptic scenario finally sinking in. 

Row of Ashes’ “Tide Into Ruin,” is a raw, chaotic piece of metallic noise that will appeal to the inner primal beast inside us all.   

I couldn't find any links to post for the music but when I do, I'll update the review.  

Rating:  Great