Manchester’s Atavist recorded II: Ruined at Geoff Barrow’s studio. Yes, that Geoff Barrow, the mastermind behind Portishead. Evidently, he’s into sounds even heavier and more depressing than his day job. His label Invada put out Atavist’s two previous records, including an exquisite ambient collaboration this year with Nadja. Invada is handling II: Ruined in the UK/Europe, with Profound Lore releasing it in North America.
Ruined is interesting, as its temperament is variable. Doom metal is often unidirectional, destroying inwards (Khanate) or outwards (Esoteric). Ruined starts as the former but morphs to the latter and back again, fittingly ending with a cover of Grief’s “I Hate the Human Race” (a bonus track on the North American release).
This record requires patience; a recent Decibel review was humorously snarky but missed the point. Ruined is essentially one long song (with Roman numeraled parts as tracks) that dilates, say, twenty minutes into an hour. That’s not the same as stretching things thin. It’s more like 45 rpm at 33, so everything’s slower, more bottom-heavy. Thus, an intro becomes three minutes of rumbling (which admittedly could have been cut). The second track, too, starts with two and half minutes of futzing around on bass. Thus, the record begins with basically five and a half minutes of nothing.
But then it drops, hard, into Khanate mode – lurching, wounded doom, no steady pulse, only intermittent crashings and skinned-alive screams. This recedes and resumes a number of times, passing through a gorgeous acoustic guitar interlude, to which Justin Greaves (Crippled Black Phoenix, ex-Electric Wizard) adds piano tinklings. The record builds and peaks in the fifth track with straight-up sludge metal. At this point, its energy is outwards, slinging swinging riffs with eerie jangles on top. Then it retreats back to Khanate-esque pain before the boot-to-the-ass Grief finish.
I’ve heard Manchester is a shit town; this record only reinforces that notion. Singer Toby Bradshaw turns in a sumptuous digipak design full of decaying industrial imagery. According to the liner notes, “Atavist records exclusively on comedowns & hangovers.” I don’t advocate drug use, but…
II: Ruined is available in the UK at Invada, and in the US and the rest of the world at Profound Lore.
