Deathrock and its adjacent styles have seen a resurgence over the last decade or so, with a lot of musicians from the hardcore and metal spaces creating new projects that explored these elements. Philadelphia’s Poison Ruïn has established themselves as one of the more exciting bands in the space over the past six years, as their incorporation of medieval elements into their lyrics and imagery created a different feel from their peers while the music kept some more of the metallic sheen. 2023’s Härvest was an album that clicked with me quite quickly, as its fusion of deathrock, black metal, and post punk wrapped everything in a deliberately murky mix. Follow-up EP Confrere went for a more straight-up punk approach with some continued dips into deathrock, showcasing perhaps the most distilled version of the group’s sound to that point. It makes sense that only a few years after that EP Poison Ruïn would make some significant tweaks to their approach, as Hymns From The Hills expands their sound and production without losing the previous foundation.
The biggest shift from the band’s previous material is the production, which retains some of the fuzziness and noise but peels back the layers of murk. Early songs like “Lily of the Valley” and “Eidolon” showcase an increased clarity that lets the riffs and synths shine without losing their rougher edges, and this also makes the expanded scope of the writing stand out more from the beginning. Like Härvest, upon pressing play you’re greeted with a moodier synth intro to kick things off, but it doesn’t sound quite as compressed and the tone reminds me of Daisaku Kume’s work on the film Violent Cop. It does feel like in addition to the mix being a bit clearer and fuller that this has also been applied to the scope of the songwriting as well, which is perfectly demonstrated on the title track. Here Poison Ruïn lets things sprawl naturally, incorporating periods of softer and more introspective melodies alongside speedier D-beat laden punk and a healthy dose of harmonica. There’s more variation throughout the rest of the album, and whether it’s the very Killing Joke type post punk on “Lily of the Valley”, noisier crust slant of “Pilgrimage”, or the straight up black metal blasting on closer “The Standoff” the band has plenty of moments that stick with you over repeat listens. Where some of their peers have mellowed out significantly on subsequent releases, even Poison Ruïn’s softer moments have a sense of power behind them and they’ve retained a lot of that metallic edge. What also stood out to me is the enhanced medieval flair of some of the instrumentation, as “Eidolon” and “Serpent’s Curse” have guitar work that reminds me of the type of medieval melodies Obsequiae wove into their material. The only track that didn’t fully click for me was “Puzzle Box”, which felt like it was just a bit too sparse and never fully reached a true climax as it shifted between noisier feedback and airier melodies.
With Härvest it seemed like the vocals were shifting towards harsher approaches, and while this is true for much of Hymns From The Hills the band does throw a few curveballs. Early on “Lily of the Valley” is one of these initial deviations, as rather than launching into the more aggressive pitches, this song sticks towards a gruffer singing pitch that is very gothic sounding. But once the title track takes over the singing takes on that familiar cadence where the singing is more distorted and has a lot more of that punk edge behind it. “Eidolon” and “Turn to Dust” make great use of the rougher edges of the vocals, and their faster approaches makes it come through with even more force. But “Lily of the Valley” isn’t the only song where the singing takes a turn towards mellower ranges, as “Howls From the Citadel” has echoey singing that seems to hover slightly above the synths, while “Serpent’s Curse” also lightens up a bit over its longer run. Despite the clearer production the vocals remain a bit shrouded and sometimes start to bleed into the layers of instrumentation, but it’s an approach that fits with the approach Poison Ruïn is going for.
Where other bands have gone from rawer and deliberately murky recordings to completely transformed and polished sounds, Poison Ruïn has been a bit more thoughtful in their transformation. The additional clarity has been used to make their songs fuller and the nuances a bit easier to make out, but there’s still a good bit of noise and other effects that bridge the gap between their previous recordings and this one. Stylistically they’ve also pushed outwards, resulting in a more varied listen. Out of the current batch of artists leaning heavily into the deathrock and more jagged post punk sounds, Poison Ruïn continues to be one of the most exciting. Hymns From the Hills is available from Relapse Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg