AmongRuins - Land of the Black Sun

AmongRuins

Album: Land of the Black Sun

Genre: Melodeath

Release Date: June 30th, 2023 digitally, July 14th physically

Country: Greece

Label: Theogonia Records

Band Links: BANDCAMP / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK

AmongRuins are a Greek melodic deathmetal band, which was formed in 2012 as a studio project between friends, but steadily evolved and became a strong, active band since then, having already released two full-length albums - “Bring Out Your Dead” in 2013 and “No Light” (2016). After their signing with Theogonia Records, the powerhouse is now set to take their listeners to the “Land of the Black Sun”, which will be out on July 14th physically, but is already available digitally since June 30th.

The journey takes 38 minutes and consists of eight rather dark, full-sounding tracks, and even though AmongRuins are from Greece, their music might appeal to fans of melodeath in Gothenburg style. There are some brighter snippets in between, showing up in form of a melodious guitar part here or some symphonic elements there, but most of the songs come along in vigorous mid-tempo with pounding rhythms as well as heavy guitar and bass work. The powerful, growled vocals move mostly in the same height, but the instruments deliver enough melody.

My favorites are "Shattered Times" and "Our Destructive Tide" due to their great dynamic and the higher pace, as well as the amazing title track, which also features the touching clean vocals of George Prokopiou (Poem, Mother of Millions) and an acoustic guitar part by Tuomas Saukkonen (Wolfheart).

AmongRuins' trip to the "Land of the Black Sun" is a gloomy one, and it works well over the rather short playing time. Sometimes I'd wish them to break out of the too foreseeable song structures, but maybe that's just my proggy heart speaking ;-) All-together a strong, third album.

Written by Katha