Was it based on personal experience or simply passive observation?

What happened in the recording studio or on stage to make one song sound different from the rest?

These are just some of the question bands and musicians attempt to answer in Line 'em Up - the newest page of The Power Of Metal.Dk.

This is where your favourite bands comment on their albums, track by track, because as someone once said, “Ideas are the building blocks of ideas”.

Enjoy!

Here’s a chance for you to tell our readers about your debut album: "10 Forms of Dominion".

But could you please start off by introducing the readers to the band?

Ruinside – Ruinside is a melodic thrash metal band that was founded in 2005 but activated more seriously in 2010 when the line-up started to be more stable. Our debut album “The Hunt” was released 2012 by Danish Mighty Music.

Could you please give us some info on the album: Where did you record the album and who has produced and mixed it?

Ruinside – We recorded the album in MSTR-studio at Tampere, Finland. It’s a professional metal/rock studio with a nice atmosphere and a friendly crew. The album was mixed by Jussi Kulomaa and produced by Kimmo Jankkari and Jussi Kulomaa. The mastering was made by Esa Orjatsalo.

And now onto your new album track-by-track, what inspired you, and what do what to express with this song etc.

01. The Fall (intro)

Ruinside – The first track is a short introduction to “The Sickness”. It gives a serene start for the album before hell breaks loose on the second track. The message in the intro is somewhat hidden: calm voice speaking friendly words with a nasty tone.

02. The Sickness

Ruinside – There’s a very strong and angry atmosphere during the whole song. Even from the demo version we heard that this song will work. It was also pretty clear that this will be an opening song on the album. The song itself was born easily and the arrangements were easy to figure out. This song is about most people being so self-centered nowadays. A simple song without any unnecessary crap.

03. Dethroned to Be Thriven

Ruinside – With this song the arrangements were more demanding. Actually the structure of the song was changed in the studio and it brought the song alive. A powerful song with a couple of killer riffs. One of my personal favorites also in the lyrical side. It suggests you to step down from your throne for a moment to see the real world.

04. Corridors of Power

Ruinside – This is a speedy piece of metal. Good 80’s thrash metal vibes and a melodic chorus. Maybe this is the song which supports the album’s theme the most because it’s about the double-dealing nature of the elite. And there’s also an insane guitar solo in this song. This piece was a great pleasure to compose because the song almost made itself.

05. Dancing to the Demon's Tune

Ruinside – The only really slow song on the album. There was some re-composing after the pre-production phase but after a little improvement the essential core of the song was found. We nearly dropped this song out from the album but when the studio version was ready we decided not to because there it really started to work out. The title says it all: We’re dancing to the demon’s tune.

06. The Beginning of Nothingness

Ruinside – This turned out to be pretty successful. Even more than we expected. Nice thrashy song with a good mix of rough riffs and turgid melodies. There’s also some distressed feelings in the lyrics which I like personally. The basic idea here is: Give everything to me here and now no matter what! I don’t know what was the criteria but this was the song that Klaus Flaming chose to be played at Radio Rock. Good choice I would say.

07. In the Arms of Bitterness

Ruinside – This is the ”pop song” of the album. It’s a really simple song on the Ruinside scale and I think it was also the reason why it was selected to be the first video song. Heavy verses and a melodic chorus. The anti-hero in this song has a life that no-one envy. The song is basically handling the feeling of inadequacy.

08. Juggernaut

Ruinside – This is the almost obligatory different song. We made a new approach and the guitars in the verses were composed to be moody instead of traditional riffs. The c-section also turned out really nice. All in all this is a really inspiring song and it’s different elements as a whole makes it interesting. One of our friends told us that he will buy this album only if this song is included. The lyrical theme is about regret.

09. Chambers of Resurrection

Ruinside – There’s a story related to this song because the lyrics are written based on a dream I had. I don’t usually remember my dreams so well afterwards but this was stuck on my mind that bad, so I had to exploit it and write down some lyrics. The main idea is what will happen when stepped on the wrong man’s shoes. Musically this is quite a traditional Ruinside song. Tight riffs and a big chorus.

10. Checkmate

Ruinside – An insane piece of thrash metal. 3:54 minutes of full bombardment from beginning to end. It originally had a slower C-section but in the studio we decided to drop it out and make the song more compact. This one is awesome to play live. Checkmate’s theme is pretty dominant in the cd’s booklet as well. The lyrics are about handling the game of life.

11. Cycle of Slavery

Ruinside – Complicated song which has many parts and elements put together. It was almost axiomatic that this song will be the ending song on the album. The lyrics of the song are quite current because according to some research there’s more slavery in our modern world than ever. It has just transformed. Just recently among other news magazines in Finland Helsingin Sanomat also published an article about the subject.

Tell us a bit about the artwork – who made it etc. and how important do you feel it is to have a cool artwork?

Ruinside – The guy who made the artwork is Kristian Huitula. He is a professional artist who just published his own comic book and he has a long history in making this kind of art. He has made album covers for example to Gamma Ray. We chose Kristian because his style was a perfect fit for the ambience of this album and we are really pleased of the work he did to make us stand out with the album covers.

Any last words you want to round this interview off with?

Ruinside – Come to our gigs and support metal!

Kenn Jensen, November 2014