THE BEAST

Age of Ruin - Thieves - Reviewed By Metal Digest ! Check it out here at this link https://metal-digest.com/2023/09/23/age-of-ruin-thieves/

Age of Ruin are a Melodic Death Metal/Metalcore band from Washington D.C. and Virginia and although they released their debut album in 2000, the band took a break in 2012 before reforming in 2019. This year has the band releasing their first album since reforming ‘Thieves’.

The first song off the album ‘Distance’ has a great rough disconnected start to it, before shifting smoothly into pounding drums, intense deep guitar rhythms and vocals which are raspy, guttural and mixed with gruff screeching vocals. ‘Dying Days’ has a nice rolling pounding drums feel to it with more great rasping deep vocals again while the guitarist Dan Fleming adds some nice melodic guitar parts. ‘Garden of Ghosts’ has a fantastic stomping groove to it coupled with rich retro guitars and bass where if this track was played live I can imagine the Chris and Dan Fleming with one foot on the monitors as the vocalist barks out the lyrics to the moshing crowd as Age of Ruin bring ‘Garden of Ghosts’ to a crescendo at the end. This is followed by ‘Thieves in Treason’ which has a nice mystical melodic beginning and as the song continues it reminds me of a the melee of a medieval battle joined by all the chaos which ensues with it. Furthermore, the penultimate song ‘Withered Rose’ has an immense gothic metal feel with its pulsing guitar and drums that reminds me of Paradise Lost but coupled with a style of vocals that Morbid Angel’s Steve Tucker would be proud of.

‘Thieves’ is a good album and a welcome return by a band which has been away for too long. Metal Digest

Release Date: February 14, 2023

FFO: Darkest Hour, In Flames, At The Gates

Location: Fairfax, Virginia

    Short Bio: Age of Ruin is an American metalcore band from the Washington DC suburb of Fairfax, Virginia. The group formed in 1998, releasing a demo in 1999 titled "The Opium Dead." Their first album, "Black Sands Of The Hourglass" was self-released in 2000 and re-released in 2004 with two bonus tracks on Tribunal Records. In 2002 the group released an EP entitled "Autumn Lanterns" for Tribunal Records.       

    Age of Ruin released "The Tides of Tragedy" via Eulogy Records in the spring of 2004, touring across the United States on Van's Warped Tour 2004. Subsequent tours with bands such as Shadows Fall, Darkest Hour, The Bled, Sworn Enemy, Good Clean Fun and Anterrabae continued to cause an already strong following to grow. In Winter 2006, Age of Ruin kicked off the year with their first European tour, a 25-day tour crossing 12 countries. Sharing the stage with other mainstream acts such as The Black Dahlia Murder, Bleeding Through, and Most Precious Blood.

    In 2008, the original lineup of Age of Ruin minus Patrick Owens (who was replaced by Aaron Sirott on drums) recorded and released "One Thousand Needles" on Eulogy Records.

    In 2019, the original lineup of Age of Ruin got back together and began working on "Thieves." In 2020-2021, the band brought in Brian Gant (vocals) and Jonathan Clay (guitars), both from the band Absolute Vengeance to record the EP at the Riff Dojo Studio with Mike Schleibaum of Darkest Hour and Be Well.

Follow the band on Spotify and add them to your playlists!

Age of Ruin is:
Brian Gant - Vocals
Daniel Fleming - Guitars
Jonathan Clay - Guitars
Christopher Fleming - Bass
Hendrik Osinga - Drums

Thieves was recorded 2020-2021 at the Riff Dojo
Produced by Mike Schleibaum
Drums on tracks 2-7 performed by Patrick Owens
Additional vocals on track 5 performed by Caitlin Schneiderman
All songs written by Age of Ruin

Follow the band at these links:

https://www.instagram.com/thisistheageofruin/ 
https://www.facebook.com/thisistheageofruin/ 
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5OlOc49L0IERvwqbuRost8
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPbz1Uy1jrz9LmyjnF05k-g  
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/age-of-ruin/6186899 
https://ageofruin.bandcamp.com/