Conor Fynes 'Invade' - Within The Ruins (5/10)

Throughout the career of this band, Within The Ruins have continued to impress me more and more with their technical chops, but despite all of the flashy skills on guitar, they seem to always lack in the songwriting department, where it really counts. 'Creature' showed the band developing into a more solid tech metal act rather than the deathcore of yesteryear, and for the most part, I have supported this moderate shift. However, although Within The Ruins have certainly polished up the sound they are working with here on their sophomore full length 'Invade', I cannot say that the musical experience itself has actually been improved upon, and in the end, that's all that matters.

Within The Ruins seems to be another one of those would-be metalcore bands that likely got tired of the widespread conventions of the genre, and instead got trapped in the conventions and formula of prog metalcore, a style shared by other more established acts such as Between The Buried And Me, and Becoming The Archetype. Compared to their earlier stuff 'I would say that 'Invade' takes a slightly more experimental edge, although as is evidenced by the campy aesthetic of the album cover, they still have that deathcore sound in their music. For some, that may not necessarily be a bad thing, but I'll have to say that- putting it diplomatically- I prefer Within The Ruins when they are doing their technical thing, rather than plodding along with their chug-chug antics.

The instrumentation and musicianship has been sharpened since their previous outing, and I'm even hearing some stranger sounding ideas where they are dabbling around with out-of-tune leads and such. The drummer's unrelenting style still somewhat annoys me, but even that's been improved upon. Really, the only thing about Within The Ruins which doesn't seem to be open to much change are the vocals, and they are also one of the less glorious elements in the band/ Although they are standard for the style, they are flat and dry and while getting that sense of primal anger and 'oomph' across, I don't find them enjoyable on a musical level.

Within The Ruin's greatest weakness always has been, and remains the dry songwriting, which never builds up to anything. The songs enter fast and angry, and they leave fast and angry. The static trend of the compositions really takes away much of the shock while listening to the technical riffs, because after hearing nothing but heaviness after a while, the ears of the listener begin to adjust, and soon it just gets monotonous. I really hope Within The Ruins works that out at some point, because from a technical standpoint, they are good to go. There just needs to be that one big push in the direction of good songwriting to get me liking what this band is doing.

J-Man On paper, Invade has every ingredient to succeed as a modern technical death metal/metalcore release. Insanely fast drumming, shredding guitars, technical song structures, and loud vocals - the entire ordeal is here in full form. But once you start to dig beneath the surface, it's hard for me to find anything here aside from generic metal riffing, lifeless compositions, and uninspired vocals. Although the guitar acrobatics can be fun to listen to from time to time, I simply can't see anything here that's above average. The music is lifeless, and fails to move me in any way. Maybe fans of really technical and complex extreme metal will like this one, but I honestly think that you can find much better in that department. Despite all of the good things about this album (the production is great and the musicians are talented), Within the Ruins seems to be lacking one very important thing in terms of songwriting. Even after I've just heard the album, it's awfully difficult for me to even recall one melody, and that is ultimately the problem with Invade. If this band wants to really impress me with a future release, they need to hone in on their songwriting skills a bit.

Even though the compositions fail to move me in any way, there are still plenty of good things about Invade. The most obviously positive thing about the album is the incredibly technical musicianship, which is always truly impressive. Whether or not you enjoy the music, the technical proficiency of the group is unquestionable. The vocals are somewhat monotonous at times, but they are generally strong as well. As previously mentioned, the really big issue here is the lack of memorable songwriting and a distinct sound. Within the Ruins sounds almost identical to the tons of American technical metalcore bands nowadays, and that is definitely another major issue. With that said, if these guys can really work on making more memorable songs and a more unique sound, I can see these guys making a really good album in the future.

The production sounds great, and is one of the most positive things about Invade. This mix is professional, dense, and very clean.

I was pretty disappointed by Invade, despite some of its major assets. When the music seems this uninspired and generic, technical proficiency and a polished production can only help so much. If Within the Ruins takes a more original and memorable approach in the future, I can really see them succeeding in the crowded technical metalcore genre. As it stands, fans of highly technical extreme metal will probably enjoy this, but I'm not one of them. The most I can give this album is 2 stars. Despite my lukewarm feelings, I really do hope that their next effort is much more impressive - they definitely have the chops.