Review of Brutality - Ruins of Humans EP

Florida’s Brutality return with their first official recording since the outstanding 1996 album, In Mourning.  We only get 2 songs, but they are really good songs and this also marks the return of the original band logo.

The 8 minute title track opens the album and the return of the signature Brutality blast beats hits you like a ton of bricks.  The 2 minute mark also has the fantastic sounding groove that Brutality were known for in the 90’s.  The 3.27 mark has a very old school Deicide feel.  Some killer melodic guitar soloing as well.  The long song alternates between blast beats and groove.  “Irreversibly Broken” is up next, at close to 6 minutes the song has some epic guitar solos and the song is primarily mid paced throughout.  A little variation would have gone a long way, but hell Brutality are back so F the weak!!

Not everything is peaches and cream in the production department.  While recorded under the watchful eye of Jim Morris at the legendary Morrisound Studio in Tampa, Florida I would have expected a little bit better production.  Now the sound on this is a little more stripped down and rawer than the prior 3 Brutality albums, which I am ok with.  But the double bass comes across as a little much, too loud in the mix, thus drowning out the guitar.  The vocals are also mixed way upfront in the mix, should have been scaled back a bit.

The cd cover is similar to a demo cover from the 90’s and looks really cool, lyrics are also included.  At the end of the day Brutality are back with a nice little ditty of an ep and if you were a fan of theirs before the $10 for this should not set you back too much.  Pick up RUINS OF HUMANS today, it’s good!