Artist: Ruled By Reason
Label: The Execution Kollective
Release: 2011
Length: 42:36
Rating: 4.5/5
It’s almost become a standard remark that something is rotten in the land of core, but every once in a while it happens that, amid all the junk and the deeply hollowed-out crap, something very digestible washes up on the table too. A prime example is undoubtedly the debut from Cleveland quintet Ruled By Reason and their wonderfully melodic metalcore firstborn The Dawning Of Dystopia. Yes, it’s obvious right away that this release ticks every box of the craft, but hammering out already-hammered stuff is sometimes just plain utility, and other times you spot a ton of talent, a feel for shaping songs and, above all, something mischievously breezy under the surface. The Dawning Of Dystopia undoubtedly radiates the latter, though it’s also true that for a good ten years now a constant sense of déjà vu has been getting grafted into our heads. Ruled By Reason are no exception.
The band, made up of five building blocks — vocalist Jason Dean, bassist Chris Glavac (reportedly of Slovenian descent), drummer Sam Newman and a guitar tandem of gifted lads named Brian Montgomery and Matt Tarach — has clearly been huffing huge amounts of Swedish death metal reading material. Unlike the generic repetition of basic rhythmic gymnastics that the metalcore scene has no shortage of, the guys from Ohio bring loads of passion, a sense of camaraderie and a knack for building on basic structures, which makes the record incredibly fun and listenable, and the mission of grabbing the attention of the eternal grumblers and skeptics is accomplished! After the first drops of rain and the seemingly naive overture of the title track The Dawning Of Dystopia, the screaming fanfares of a brutal urge to prove their potential ring out with We Met Destruction. It quickly turns out the youngsters don’t plan on merely imitating the greats, but on beating them at every element of the music. Jason, in the manner of Randy Blythe, screams his full and sincerely felt rage with the very first lines: “I opened the gates to give you answers / A flood of thoughts slowly consumes you / Clouding your mind bringing the hammer / To our destruction have we descended / Water fills your empty lungs / Explaining your spell of silence / I opened the gates to give you answers / A flood of thoughts slowly consumes you / Clouding your mind bringing the hammer /To our destruction have we descended”.
What does surprise is the very melodic, anthemic singing on Look To The Stars, where a few more artfully engraved touches of catchiness get hammered into the compositional structure of rolling granite. It’s as if the guys let loose and went toe to toe with the multi-part vocals of the more established Between The Buried And Me. I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but it really is possible to combine brutal extremity with a focus on harmony, technicality and catchiness without coming off watered-down or overly crowd-pleasing. Plenty of their contemporaries convince themselves that’s impossible, and they put listeners off by overcooking and overcomplicating otherwise good ideas, or by cutting vital organs out of a perfectly functional body — all to make the result even more primal and brutal. On the Cleveland five’s debut there’s enough of both the kitsch and the bitter, sharp edges, on which all the slanderers and doubters will happily break their teeth! Soft parts are scarce on the record, or practically nonexistent. The thing holds water, and after the playful melodics of The Last Prophecy or the ambitious metrics of To Rise Above, not a shred of belief remains that this time you got lured onto the sweet, brittle ice of your own narrow-mindedness when pigeonholing them. Ruled By Reason are once again a few lengths ahead of the listeners, blowing a highly reactive mixture of explosive gases into the sails of good vibes! The instrumentation, which can’t be faulted for a thing, is backed by the charisma and demonic devotion of the band’s frontman, and the record is a total treat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tol55snAuGI
There’s no shortage of technicality in the music, but it never outgrows the aesthetically colossal riffs. An impressive run of eight outstanding songs won’t bludgeon you to death the way you’re used to with the usual metalcore windbags, but instead gives hope that something beautiful and mighty could grow out of the seeds of this extremely young band (they formed in 2008), and, let’s hope, something even sweeter than the dismal degradation of intellect in initially promising bands like Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage. Maybe, who knows, they’ll even outdo the elite of musicians like Unearth, Underoath or some name your younger brother would happily give his life for. Ruled By Reason have hinted that the final, renewed dawn of American metal may soon be upon us, and maybe even a well-deserved takeover of the throne of might from the band that fell asleep on the laurels of its old glory — the once-mighty Lamb Of God.
This review was written in collaboration between RockLine and Rock Hard Slovenija.
Lineup
Jason Dean – vocals
Chris Glavac – bass
Sam Newman – drums
Brian Montgomery – guitar
Matt Tarach – guitar
Production
Noah Buchanan & Ruled By Reason
Tracklist
1. The Dawning Of Dystopia
2. We Met Destruction
3. Dr. Jekyll Sleeps Alone Tonight
4. Look To The Stars
5. Within These Memories
6. The Last Prophecy
7. To Rise Above
8. Dorsia
