Seriously, I gotta know if any one else besides me has the same reaction every time they hear Tairrie B’s vocals with her band MY RUIN; the overwhelming desire to scream at the stereo, “Oh, my God! Stop, just please stop!” Tairrie’s throat shredding attempt at a death metal growl is so horrific, it literally sounds like something in her larynx is falling apart. And that’s the good quality. The rest of what she calls "vocals" is better described as the wailing death cries of an impaled walrus, seriously out of tune, and infused with that particular tonality that just makes my liver convulse. And I didn’t even know a liver could convulse.

Now, the horrific nature of Tairrie’s vocals could be offset, at least to some degree in this live CD, if the rest of the band stepped up and just blew me away with a massive riff fest of molten metal. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen either. There’s nothing to distinguish this plodding screamo thrash from any other dark metal wannabes out there. A few times an effective riff slices through the tedium, but any power this may have mustered is immediately offset by some of the thinnest production I’ve ever heard on a live album. The bass is completely missing in the mix. I mean completely. When the guitarist drops into what he calls a solo, there’s no bass there to drive the song forward. Instead, all we’re left with is the snore fest of guitar and drums, and the drums sure as hell aren’t doing anything near interesting enough to fill that chasm. Tairre’s random screams, like she just stepped on a rusty nail on stage, don’t help much either.

Somewhere, some poser in an ALESSANA t-shirt is going to praise this album as the second coming, but no one will believe them. Certainly not the six or seven people in the audience who bothered to show up for this recording. When the band stops you don’t hear crowd noise, rather you can actually hear each individual clapping and you just know that it’s mom, dad, the neighborhood grocer and the club’s janitor. No one else would ever bother with this drivel.

Oh yeah, a live DVD comes with the package. Don’t ask me how it is. You couldn’t pay me enough to watch it.

- Severin

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/myruin

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