Customer Reviews

Ruiner

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have owned "Ruiner" for a while now and I just listened to it for the first time in months. I was blown away! I forgot how amazing this album is. Super melodic, raging punk rock with emotion and endless energy.

A WILHELM SCREAM make really awesome heartfelt music. "Ruiner" is an audio treat from start to finish. I highly recommend this album to any musicians! The musicianship is impressive and there is some very technical guitar work and nasty bass & drums. Add in multi-layered vocals and you have a delicious recipe for a good album. Most of these songs are fast, but there are some slower moments that provide a good contrast.

Listening to "Ruiner" is a raging rock & roll ride filled with super fast riffs, and punchy, quality drumming. After listening to such an explosive and wonderful album, I am in awe that so many crappy bands are still popular today. "Ruiner" has a very original sound and it is very necessary to your punk rock collection. This is the kind of album that you listen to straight through, and then listen to it again because it is so impressive.

If you are a fan of Hot Water Music, or Strike Anywhere you should definitely check out A WILHELM SCREAM.

the word WOW is now spelled A-W-S. A Wilhelm Scream is a pounding, in your face punk band that rocks gloriously. Ruiner is a masterpiece of musicianship, vocals, and songwriting. Finally, a punk band without whiny vocals. The vocals are strong, punctuated, and fearless. I can't decide if this release or its predecessor Mute Print is better. I am definitely going to continue to pick up their other albums as well.

My personal favortites are, but are not limited to: The King is Dead, Killing It, The Pool, Me vs. Morissey in the Pretentiousness Contest, The Kids Can Eat a Bag of Dicks. HOWEVER, every song on this album is praiseworthy. Each flows seemlessly into the next.

If you like Hot Water Music then i'd say buy this. Also, if you like rock/metal/punk in general buy this.

This was easily the best punk offereing of 2005. Melodies mixed with the crispest guitar work going around and rock solid songwriting make this a must own.
Long live the scream - death to screamo!!

The riffs are face melting..... the melodies are mind boggling.... the vocals are soul wretching ... what more could you ask for a follow up to the best album of last year except ...ruiner...

they sound nothing like AFI. good riddance. minor threat. or H2O.

First of all, in response to the guy who reviewed this before me, they sound absolutely nothing like any one of those bands that you listed. I don't really understand where you get the idea that they sound remotely close to AFI, but whatever.

Anyway, Ruiner is one of the best punk albums to come out this year. It can appeal to listeners of many different genres, but mainly melodic hardcore fans and emo/screamo fans. Although i wouldn't classify them as an emo band, most of their lyrics are what many would call "typical emo lyrics".

If you liked Mute Print chances are you'll like Ruiner as well.

Agree with the other review that says this is one of the few new real punk bands that are out there right now. These guys write really good songs with lyrics that actually you want to listen to. The songs are catchy without being cheeseball pop-punk and these guys can PLAY. Pick this up!!!

A Review From: www.musicsquared.com/blog/

Punk, at least at one point during its existence, meant catchy rifts, political agendas, anti-authoritative ideologies and powerful music. I'm not sure when it happened or how it happened but somewhere along the line the Punk community stopped caring about what made the genre so special for me: the music. There was a phase-shift toward the mentality of "being punk for punk's sake" and a lack of emphasis on the music; the agenda became the forerunner and the music took a backseat to that.

A Wilhelm Scream's release, Ruiner, has proven to me that there are still those out there who care about the music more than the agenda. Ruiner is the best punk release I have heard since Rise Against's '04 release. They are a breath of fresh air in what was becoming a rather stagnant and dying punk scene. So, what do they sound like? I'll tell you. A Wilhelm Scream is Hot Water Music meets Jawbreaker meets Dinosaur Jr. meets progress. The best part about this album is its ability to hold traditional punk structures to its songs while taking a bold step forward. A lot of modern bands feel they have to latch on to a certain genre to survive and it just isn't true anymore. The Internet, and the socially-expanding entity that it is, has presented us, as a society, with a unique opportunity. It has broadened the reach a band has, in terms of initial audiences, as fledgling beings in the music world. You don't have to sound just like someone else to be noticed. I love to see bands take the collective influences of their members and then take a step or two forward with those notions; A Wilhelm Scream has done just that with Ruiner.

If you have read any of my articles before, you will know that I have a problem with short album releases. I feel short albums are the primary, legitimate defense any media-pirate has for pirating instead of buying. You might also recall that I do not hold this belief against punk bands; A Wilhelm Scream has finally given me an album to showcase exactly why I feel that way. Many songs on the album are very short in length but due to the accelerated tempo, and non-stop flurry of lyrics it maintains for a better song by shortening the length of the songs. The production quality of these songs stays intact; whereas if they were any longer, I fear they would start to lose their identities as songs and just become repetitions of verse/chorus combinations.

The vocals on this album are also another point that needs to be brought to attention. Hardcore, metal, and punk bands are often given the liberty of putting vocals on songs that are near incomprehensibility. A Wilhelm Scream, on Ruiner, has the fortitude and confidence in their talents to break that norm. They not only utilize their talents to attach melodic vocals to their songs but also throw superbly harmonic backup vocals as almost to say, "Yea, we are that good." A powerful, comprehensible, and melodic vocalist is a great catch and I hope the band continues to use this to their advantage.

If you are looking to pick up the future of punk music then grab this album. This is easily in the Top 10 Punk albums of the last 4-5 years. If the rest of the punk scene takes some ambitious moves like these guys have, then we are in for some great music come 2007.

I first heard AWS this summer opening up for the Lawrence Arms (other great band you should check out if you haven't) and I was blown away by the punk and metal fusion. I quickly picked up there first album 'mute print.' Which was, a, awesome. A couple months later this album came out and I rushed to the store to get it upon it's release. Now i'm a musician and the songs I write I think kick ass (I wouldn't write sh*tty songs, now would I) and on the first listen to 'Ruiner' I thought to myself I am never going to make it as a musician because this album was so f*ckin' good. I could not believe it. It was so good! So f*cking good! There is not one bad track and the kick ass songs really, I mean really kick ass. Sh*t, writting this review makes me want to listen to this album.

This band is flat out great. I saw them live and then had to buy their new CD. Now after listening to their new CD I'm addicted to their music

"Ruiner" is a record that is much needed in today's music scene. While screamo and metalcore are reigning supreme and clogging up the airwaves with over saturated clones, A Wilhelm Scream has quietly put together the stand out punk rock release of the year. In a time when it's almost impossible to hear bands with somewhat original sounds, AWS courageously throws their ideas of classic punk rock, old school hardcore and metal stylings into a blender and instantly creates a sound that is like no other band getting heavy air play right now. And that's exactly what makes this record so good and worth listening to. A couple of years ago punk was probably the biggest music craze on the market (not exactly punk, but terrible pop-punk like Good Charlotte and Simple Plan) and now it seems like Punk is slowly beginning to die away in the mainstream again. But with the help of bands like A Wilhelm Scream, Bad Religion, Strung Out and Pennywise punk is still showing it has its credibility. "Ruiner" is exactly the record you need to hear right now if you're fed up with screamo and all the other music that's plaguing the airwaves.

First of all, A Wilhelm Scream's last record "Mute Print" was absolutely one of the best records released in 2004. Not just in the punk genre, but any genre alike. When I heard the band would be following up with "Ruiner" so quickly (only inside a year) I was hesitant to jump right on board with the hype. However after hearing the first seconds of "The King Is Dead" any suspicion you might have about the quality of the music on this cd will be immediately erased. Starting just as quickly as the last record did, "Ruiner" will instantly overwhelm you with its tight and intricate sound. The guitars are just as impressive as they ever were, which is one of the reasons "Ruiner" stands side by side with the last record. "Mute Print" had some of the most original and best sounding riffs a punk record had displayed in some time, and with "Ruiner" that same amazing feeling is still intact. At times the duo of Trevor Reilly and Chris Levesque can belt out metallic sounding intricacies as on "The Pool" and "God Loves A Liar", only to retain the punk-inspired feeling on excellent songs like "Killing It" and "Less Bright Eyes, More Deicide". Nuno is once again in top form as far as vocals go, and perhaps even better than the effort he put forth on "Mute Print". Together along with Trevor and Curtiss' backup vocals, A Wilhelm Scream delivers some of the best and most memorable melodies that a punk band has done in quite some time. The most refreshing thing about this record though has got to be the lyrics. I know I'm not the only one who's been dying to hear about something other than broken hearts or slitting your wrists or other cliche lyrical topics, and AWS is exactly the answer to that. "Speed Of Dark" and "Cancer Dream" are both excellent musical compositions both musically and lyrically, and the fact that I'm not hearing about some girl who broke someone's heart is even better. As a matter of fact, the entire compilation of lyrics found on "Ruiner" is downright right astounding. Everything from politics, to inner struggle, to failed friendships and more is tackled by the band, and they do it with the utmost sincerity. The strongest passages are when AWS seemingly gives us a call to arms to defend our rights and not let ourselves be brainwashed by the mass media and government. To top things off, the record flows beautifully. No song drags on past its relevance, or is too short to communicate its message. Everything about "Ruiner" is simply stunning, and it is exactly what both the punk rock, and music world in general, needs at this moment.

After listening to "Ruiner" I guarantee you'll be going back for more and more every time. I know I was from the first time I listened to it, right until this very moment as I listen to the cd while I type this review. It is just that good. I thought that nothing could top "Mute Print", but with "Ruiner" A Wilhelm Scream has brought the same intensity and musical integrity they astounded me with the last time. I urge you to listen to "Ruiner", just simply because it is so good. What surprises me the most is that this record has been so under publicized. If you listen to "Ruiner" even just once, I guarantee you will be hooked. It takes a lot for me to really feel as good about a record as I do with this one, but one open ear to A Wilhem Scream's latest album will make you understand why I feel so strongly about this release. If you don't have "Mute Print", then pick that up as well, because your collection won't be complete without it. This is definitely one of the best records to be released this year, even if it doesn't get the attention it deserves. Nitro sure knew what they were doing when they signed this band. Saving music one ear at a time.