ALBUM REVIEW: Floating In Timeless Streams – Lie In Ruins
LIE IN RUINS, the Finnish death metal four-piece, are long time members of the unreadable logo club. They’ve been slogging away in the extreme metal underground for decades and if Floating In Timeless Streams is anything to go by, they’ll most likely stay there. It’s their third full-length and is a nasty, grimy record that is practically swimming in its own filth. Music this heavy rarely troubles the mainstream, but even in alternate universes where death metal dominates the airwaves, it’s hard to imagine them being more than also-rans.
These lads specialise in the straightforward pummelling of old school death metal. BOLT THROWER are the obvious reference point; LIE IN RUINS are fast, guttural and utterly committed to the art of the blast-beat. Unfortunately, they’re also rather monochromatic and there’s nothing here to make them stand apart from their contemporaries. They have learned from previous albums and cut the running time down, Floating In Timeless Streams clocks in at a brisk forty-minutes, but it’s still a tough one to recommend.
That isn’t to say this isn’t without merit. Taken as individual entities rather than pieces of a whole, the songs occasionally reach unexpected highs. (Becoming) One With The Aether for instance is a perfectly decent death metal track, alternating between prehistoric bludgeoning one moment and eerie little melodies the next. This one has a similar vibe to classic NILE; it manages to be both ruthlessly violent and darkly ominous.
Spectral Realms Of Fornication similarly feels oppressive and grim. There’s impressive guitar work throughout and the sheer aggression is certainly eyebrow raising. LIE IN RUINS sound like they really, really hate their instruments and can’t wait to take out a lifetime of anger on the drum kit. However, it’s also overlong and doesn’t do enough to justify hitting the six-minute mark. It gets close to being brilliant but falls short.
Descending Further on the other hand, is more rewarding. It’s not as baggy and is a more efficient, stripped down slice of rabid headbanging. It’s still one-dimensional but has been more tightly edited and is better for it. Suffocating Darkness follows and by this point, fatigue is setting in. There’s some furious fretwork, thundering percussion and growls so deep they could make a Moria Cave Troll seem timid, but it’s also too by-the-book to leave a decent impression. They play with the formula during the funereal doom of The Path but as a whole, Floating In Timeless Streams sticks to rigidly to one trick and suffers for it.
In fairness, LIE IN RUINS are a long way from being a bad band. They’re all very capable musicians and it takes a tremendous amount of skill to be able to play this fast on a consistent basis. However, they’re not doing enough to stand out from the crowded death metal scene and seem destined to remain obscure. Listen to the songs individually and they can be monstrous, but a whole album of them is pushing it.
Rating: 6/10
Floating in Timeless Streams is out now via Dark Descent Records.
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