BURIAL HORDES is a black/death band from Greece who formed in 2001. Their latest album, 'Ruins,' is their fifth full length album.  Over the years they have also released four demos, three splits, two EPs, two compilations and a boxed set. If you're reading this then you probably already know how consistently masterful the Greece metal scene is, specifically the Hellenic scene. Anything involving black metal from this country is a guaranteed hit. 'Ruins' is an album that takes the best that both death and black metal have to offer, injects them with massive amounts of dismal gloom, and turns the genre on its head. The production creates a horrifying, chilling and monolithic atmosphere that is absolutely encompassing.  Imagine running into a creature of pure skinless, blood soaked nightmares and having nowhere to run.  No way to fight. Nothing to do except accept your impending annihilation. That's what this album sounds like.

Some might argue the murky atmosphere hides the intricacies the album holds. I disagree. It makes everything all the more potent, all the more layered with morbid curiosity. The album begins with 'In the Midst of a Vast Solitude,' and it immediately explodes as if it was somehow already moving before I pressed play.  The guitars are a churning maelstrom of blackened speed and death metal brutality. The vocals bark out growls at a frantic pace, intent on being just as important and throttling as the music. The song slows down at one point, the band, and especially the bass, doubling down on the heaviness, approaching the level of 'crushing void.' And therein lies the straight of the band/album: coming into/out from a tempo change is when they really shine and focus on what makes them great.

'Perish,' is pummeling to the point of making one's headspace dizzy. Sparks of dissonance lay in wait, a contrast against the intensity yet complimentary of the atmosphere as a whole. About a quarter of the way on, a groove movement enters the fray. This leads into a dissonance mixed with a straight forward onslaught, the song ebbing and flowing along a chaotic route. This album actually gets better as it flows near its stunning conclusion. 'Isotropic Eradication,' builds up wonderfully and breaks open just as the mind begins to crack. There is a keen sense of dire urgency about this song that makes it one of the best on the album. Each instrument seems as if it is racing to some conclusion but on the way there, they will beat the shit out of everything.

'...To the Threshold of Silence," is the final track and my favorite one on the album because it is a BEAST. It is slow, doom, and just plain nasty and informing. The vocals, atmosphere, tone....everything here is just the exact kind of music I crave. BURIAL HORDES has released an album that has to-not needs-but HAS TO BE heard by any fan of extreme metal. If you don't like 'Ruins', I question your sanity even as I hear the album unravel my own.