Hensch's Hometown Heroes: Behind Lies Ruin Reunion Show Review

Behind Lies Ruin Reunion Show

Not every Saturday evening in the suburbs reeks of bland monotony. As a resident of a tiny, conservative town, my weekends have often been spent trying to avoid the daily grind by venturing into nearby urban sprawl and exploiting opportunities for fun contained therein. Over the years such travels of mine have often brought me in contact with all manner of young upstarts in West Michigan's booming hardcore/heavy metal underground scene. One of these upstarts, Behind Lies Ruin, spent the majority of my high school years tearing up the Grand Rapids club scene before breaking up suddenly and fading into relative obscurity. With the success of local legends Still Remains, the majority of their former peers have now upped the intensity a notch and Behind Lies Ruin appear to be no exception. Recently reformed and back with a vengeance, I saw the band's much-heralded return to personal stomping ground Skelletone's. Armed with a desire to win back their previously won accolades and surrounded by a bevy of equally hungry opportunists, the show's cheap $5 cover charge ironically ended up providing more fun in one evening than several other much more expensive shows I've attended in the past.

Much of this can be attributed to relative newcomers Waltz of the Golden Pony. Hailing from Portland, a town some hour or two East of these parts, the Pony set the bar for the evening's performances absurdly high. Describing their energy and eclecticism is no easy task, but here goes---Waltz of the Golden Pony is a breath of fresh air reeking of cotton candy and charred human flesh. Spastic and deranged, the band's twin frontman in Kyle Robert Larsen and Aaron "Breakdown" Brown provided concert-goers with an excellent study in extreme dynamics. On the one hand, Larsen screeched like a rabid wolverine, hitting high notes that were borderline frightening. On the other, "Breakdown" Brown possesses what can only be described as a "major league" set of pipes, the kind that can hit crushing growls and soar to shredding larynx howls in the same breath. All of this would have been wicked on its own, but as if to laugh at the still-arriving crowd, the Ponies proceeded to lay down a blistering set of hyper-grind violence akin to a weed-whacker massacre. Keeping their acidic tongues planted firmly-in-cheek, the band threw out quirky songs like "Chauncy Billups at the Flying Jay" and surprised by successfully incorporating large amounts of keyboards, saxophones, and free-jazz into their whirling wall of noise. Said sonic maelstrom was joyously lacerating on my ears, and I detected hints of Cephalic Carnage, Genghis Tron, Yakuza, and the Number 12 Looks like You in there somewhere. In summary, great s***, and I couldn't shill these guys anywhere near as much as I want to. Perhaps their online biography states it best---"Even our savior Jesus Christ listens to the Waltz, so should you." Truer words have never been spoken, so my advice is you stop reading my review for a sec and go check them out, the material is very promising indeed.

I am honestly not qualified to say the same about the following act, Beyond All Reckoning. Due to an unforeseen mix of smoke breaks, old friend reunions, and general distraction, I missed 90% of BAR's set and not being familiar with them previously my analysis will be brief. As far as straight metal goes, these guys win the award for the night, virtually no traces of hardcore or metalcore being present. Despite this fact, the style the band actually DOES play is every bit as bland and uninspiring as metalcore, a tepid mix of melodic riffs and chugging Meshuggah/Pantera groove. If I had to pigeonhole it, I'd wager these guys are somewhere between old Trivium, new Lamb of God, and Shadows Fall in terms of the melodic chops. Technical but lacking fire, it was a decent little showcase of raw talent but not much honest spirit behind it all. Here's hoping they branch out to greater originality next time our paths cross.

Said originality was also highly lacking in local stars Behind Lies Ruin, but I've come to expect that. To give a little history, these guys were pretty much a pillar of the hardcore/metal scene in my area throughout my entire high school education, and towards the end they called it quits much to the shock and dismay of many. I'd never seen them live before, and I have to say they were either very rusty or I wasn't missing much. The problems were many, with stage presence/instrument mixing/songcraft all taking hits. In terms of the atmosphere, the band kept their guitars slightly muffled, and the percussion was atrocious. This presents a major problem for a band of this ilk, as their fast-paced melodic hooks are what get people to like them in the first place. It better too, because to be honest their stage presence flat-out sucked. All of the members were stoic and unresponsive, looking tired and worn-out in the likely weeks of rushed practicing. In what I consider to be a lame move, the band pulled out an old friend/fan from the audience to perform vox on an older song, and naturally he was nowhere good enough to be near a mic. Stuff like this sabotaged the Behind Lies Ruin set in my eyes, and I'm not too big a fan of the rehashed In Flames/At the Gates/Soilwork metalcore bulls*** anyways. At best, Behind Lies Ruin sounded rusty---at worst, dated. Here's hoping they light a fire under their collective asses and get back some of their passion next time around.

Such a lack of passion on the parts of Behind Lies Ruin makes it that much more frustrating seeing their follow-up, headliners Burn the Sky. I'll admit to bias as a buddy or two plays in this act, but honestly nothing was on offer here beyond intense integrity and a serious drive to please the faithful. It seemed most of the crowd had come for Behind Lies Ruin, and a tiny mix of energetic youngsters, old friends, and devoted fans were all who stayed for Burn the Sky. Those who toughed it out were not left disappointed, as the hungry band---recently invigorated with new members and fresh songs---proceeded to put on a show well exceeding the feedback from the crowd. This in-and-of-itself was no easy feat, mainly because Burn the Sky mixes many diverse influences into one unique concoction. Hatebreed and Lamb of God brutality combine with the soaring, star-fire burned celestial passages of Deftones/A Perfect Circle, and a little bit of Gothenburg's melodic death riffing pops up here and there too. Don't ask me how, but the fusion somehow works. Burn the Sky kept things in a perfectly tense ebb-and-flow between harmony and discord, doing everything from lighter ballads to an attempted Wall-of-Death pit. Guitarist Austin Sutherland has mastered the art of organic transition and natural-sounding shred effects, his guitar a mix of blazing fire and shimmering ice. Meanwhile, the rest of the band rounds things out perfectly---the rhythm section are soundly tightened with the addition of new bassist Timm Novitsky, and frontman Kyle Geary soundly alternates between confrontational barking and melancholy crooning with deceptive ease. I have a lingering feeling that this only the start for Burn the Sky, and my guess is that more headlining gigs are soon to follow. See you all there!

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