Hailing from Greece, Ruined Families are ridden with nihilism, devastation and hopelessness, some of the very emotions and feelings running rampant in their homeland. As the country’s economic and social walls crumble before them it’s unsurprising that the art coming from Greece represents that. When such a downfall is so very real, and affecting the average man and woman on the street and the vulnerable of society above the elite and those responsible, it only fuels a burning hatred and unquenchable desire for retribution. Ruined Families have channelled that hatred and contempt into this 7” EP of reckless hardcore punk.
Typically short, this untitled effort is brimming with caustic aggression and red eyed fury. At the same time, the band utilise a healthy and judicial amount of melody. It makes for a powerful barrage and various different influences can be heard trickling into the band’s sound throughout these four songs.
“You Will Be Like Your Father” simply slays with almost black metal like tremolo picked riffs that kick in straight away, giving way to a hail of searing vocals before descending into slow pummelling verses. It’s by far the best track of this 7” but the whole effort is gripping from start to finish, and criminally short.
Plenty of other more metal flourishes rear their heads too. “Bedroom Nihilist” storms the gates with faintly death metal-like drum assaults. Meanwhile, “Voidealism” is just straight up punk rock aggro and closer, “Quiet” takes a little from the screamo end of the spectrum with its emotionally heavy vocals. But despite of all these varying influences Ruined Families aren’t making a concerted effort to shoehorn as many genres in as possible. Rather, it’s a natural confluence of events and in the end; this is still a hardcore record at the heart of it all.
Ruined Families has had countless comparisons made of them to Cursed too, it’s a bit overbearing to read at times but their influence certainly resides in the band to a significant degree and ignoring it is foolish. However, Ruined Families have much more for themselves going on, crafting a sound that’s executed with a feverish energy and pugnacious rage and agony that’s hard not to be impressed by and the peppering of styles and influences from slightly further afield works a treat too.
Their country may be slipping further and further into social upheaval and Ruined Families are providing the soundtrack to it all, as clichéd as that sounds, and their name rings through with an unnerving aptness as families dissolve in the wake of economic crisis. Sonically though, this is utterly belligerent but still satisfying stuff.
The 7″ is available from Gardens, Dog Knights Productions, Adagio 830 and Halo of Flies.
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