Personally, I feel like we are in a new golden era of metalcore/deathcore/death metal female vocalists. Sure, the path was forged by the likes of Dawn Crosby (Fear of God), Karen Crisis (Crisis), Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy), Krista Curry (Landmine Marathon), Laura Nichol and Grace Perry (Light This City), Maria Kolokouri (Astarte), Courtney LaPlante (Iwrestledabearonce and now Spiritbox), Rachel Heyzer (Sinister), Candace Kucsulain (Walls of Jericho) and one of my very favorites Michelle Proffit of Hiretsukan (my apologies to the many I’m sure I’ve forgotten or missed out).

But more recently, high profile femme fatales like Courtney Laplante again (Spiritbox) and Tatiana Shmayluk (Jinjer), Alyssa White Gluz (Arch Enemy, still) and more lesser known ones like  Sarah Hartman (Aversed), Yasmine Liverneaux Tucker (Face Yourself), Abigail Bexx (Image of Evil), Chelsea Murphy (Dawn of Ouroboros, ex-Tegmentum), Justine Jones (Employed to Serve), Emilie Thium (Gravity), Vivian Nigro (Noumenia), Aïcha Finnleikr (Burial Path), Olivia Mitchell/Liv Mitchell (Not Enough Space) and Nadine (Reverya) and more are delivering soul-crushing screams, growls and bellows (and singing) like never before, making more waves in the scene, going viral, and generally crushing it. (Again, my apologies to the many I’m sure I’ve forgotten or missed out).

So why blather on about this? Well, then new, tech death act  Ominous Ruin got on my radar and my year-end list wth 2021’s Amidst Voices That Echo in Stone, and there was a guest vocalist on one of that album’s songs (“Deception”), by the name of Crystal Rose. And guess who is the new full-time vocalist for the band’s new album? And boy, does she have a set of pipes on her. And I actually had no idea she was the new singer (replacing Adam Rosado) until I dug into the release a little more.

Anyways, they are back, and the second album is the same absolute scorcher of tech death that their debut was. Think brutal, but intelligent tech death in the vein of fellow Californians Abysmal Dawn, Inanimate Existence, and Odious Mortem (Ominous Ruin bassist Mitch Yoesle used to be in Inanimate Existence, and guitarist Alex Bacey was in Odious Mortem, to further cement the comparison), and you are in the stylistic wheelhouse, and Ominous Ruin do it soooooo well (not that the other two bands mentioned don’t).

After the intro that continues from the debut album’s closing title track from the debut, “Seeds of Entropy” explodes from the speakers with fretless bass-laden chaos (though not quite Jeroen Thesseling’s uber twangy style) and a deep, rich guitar tone that cuts to the bone. Standout “Eternal” follows suit and, like Inanimate Existence, shows the band’s impeccable use of atmospherics and acoustic moments to break up the sonic battery and build a little tension between beatdowns also used effectively in “Architect of Undoing”, and interlude “Bane of Syzygial Triality”.

The whole album is simply outstanding, and later album standouts like the stammering, angular lurch of my personal favorite “Fractal Abhorrence” and short but shred-tastic “Staring into the Abysm” deliver a slightly burlier, beefier take on the usually twiddly modern tech death. This hits just a little harder than some of the more ‘noodly’ tech death with a meaner production and Rose’s fierce bellows.

There have been some high-profile tech death releases so far in 2025, such as Obscura, Changeling, Quadvium, and Retromophosis, but do not overlook this gem. With this, the stunning Dormant Ordeal as well as Unmerciful, Dessiderium, and Patristic, Willowtip Records is certainly having a brutal (and technical) killer first part of 2025!

[Visit the band's website]

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