Date: 2020
Total Time: 44:33
Label: M-Theory
It took five years of waiting for Voices Of Ruin to present their new work. In 2015, “Born From The Dark” had shaken pleasantly the coasts of California, so the anticipation was intense, to see if they could make a step forward. All these years, they toured around the world. They escorted VADER and HATE to America and Japan and they found themselves next to INTERNAL BLEEDING for the European branch. At the same time, they continued running their own fest (Ruin Fest) while in 2018 they were the winners of the American Wacken Metal Battle, so their dream to play in the W.O.A of the same year came true.
And so, in the midst of a pandemic, under a new label (M-Theory), the “Path To Immortality” find the Melodic Deathsters from Ontario in high spirits. A big help came from the exceptional production that Logan Mader (ex guitarist MACHINE HEAD) achieved, who has produced some exquisite albums (GOJIRA, SEPTIC FLESH, DAGOBA, etc). The album starts with the instrumental “Other Side”. A melody that only signals the calm before the storm that follows. The “Carved Out” that follows gives a good idea of what is to be expected. They play a mixture of classic Heavy Metal with modern melodic Death Metal. Dave Barrett’s solid voice pins you down from the very first notes.
In the same-titled song, “Path To Immortality”, there are obvious influences from the Scandinavian scene, since the song is reminiscent of AMON AMARTH. The “Suffering Silence” is the first highlight. The tempo of this song is on the double. The guitar duo Barrett (the singer’s brother) – Carlton are competing each other to offer us the sweetest tune. In “Reach Towards The Sky” the melodic riffs embrace the song as it escalates and descends in tempo, while “I Am God” if carving a warpath.
A three minutes instrumental follows, entitled “Into The Aether” with an outstanding rhythm, which is basically the intro to the “Whispers”. An epic song to remember, probably the best moment of the album.
The conclusion comes with the powerful “The Undoing”, with Vanhorn’s drums (as in every song of the album) standing out, result of the superb production by Mader. An encore with “Everlong”, a cover to the FOO FIGHTERS song. Enjoyable but probably unnecessary. We have to add to the pros the amazing album cover, designed by Par Olofsson (EXODUS, IMMORTAL, IMMOLATION) with the VOICES OF RUIN demon opening the gate to different worlds. The quintet from California has done a very good job and they seem to be traveling on the path to immortality. They have just added a little diamond to the genre. Let’s hope we will not to wait five more years for the next one.
Rating: 8/10
Editor: Nikos Vlachos
Related Link: VOICES OF RUIN – Official page
