My Ruin - The Horror of Beauty
Rating
RIYL
-Label
Century MediaTracklist
1.Stage Fright*2.Made to Measure
3.America Psycho
*4.Spitfire
5.Burn the Witch
*6.Radio Silence
*7.Hot in the House of God
8.Nazimova
9.Stinkface
10.Weightless
11.Bravenet
12.Ten Minutes to Hollywood
13.Get Pretty
14.Rid of Me
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While My Ruin is essentially a solo project by ex-Tura Satana member Tairrie B, their releases feel like more of the product of a band than anything she's ever done in the past. With the exception of Speak and Destroy, My Ruin's dismal debut, the band has kept up a high level of consistency and cranked out some hard hitting records that often surpass many other female fronted hard rock bands, including the commercially accepted Otep.
My Ruin is surely not as fierce as Otep, but they pack a more sincere punch. Their style of metal is much more streamlined with the grit of punk rock and grunge, which gives it a definite original feel. The Horror of Beauty, the band's latest effort, fully captures everything great My Ruin has to offer. "Made to Measure" combines the "fuck you" attitude of Courtney Love and Brode (of Distillers fame) with the hard-hitting metal/punk guitar riffs of Motorhead and Anthrax. "American Psycho" finds the band all over the musical map, dipping into territory shared by bands like Kittie, Slaves on Dope, and even Queens of the Stone Age. There's even a short guitar solo which is then followed up by some fierce drumming courtesy of now full-time skinsman Yael.
The Horror of Beauty is definitely some ferocious stuff, and probably won't sit well with a lot of Century Media fans, let alone those interested in more commercial markets. "Spitfire" and "Radio Silence" are excellent tracks that benefit from the album's overall gritty production and emphasis on poorly-amplified guitars and garage attitude. This is what more rock bands should sound like circa mid-2004 and is a breath of fresh air in a music industry gone terribly haywire.
Definitely worth checking out for any fan of female-fronted angst bands. Some of the songs are even good enough to be liked by those who hate female-fronted bands altogether. Check out "Spitfire" for evidence of that. Hopefully, My Ruin can continue this level of creativity on their next album.
--Timothy Golden
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