As its traditionally gone with live black metal recordings, Ruin and Despair, is a raw and visceral display that goes straight for the throat right from the get go. Taken from their opening slot on the Dr Shinker reunion show back on 9/28/13, the band opens with, Deadspeak, which is a pummeling blackened number intermingled with slower acoustic and spoken passages, shortly thereafter, To War, ignites, and again the band brings the listeners through moments of intense barbaric fury as well as slower depressing atmospheres. Finally, Ruin and Despair, has all qualities of the previous songs, while generally having a more mid-paced overall flow throughout its duration.
With the performance being lifted from a video recording, the overall sound quality may force you to turn the knobs up on your stereo, although all the instruments (just a guitarist & drummer) are easily heard. Limited to just 100 copies, the EP comes on a white CDR in a slimline case with a two-paneled professionally printed artwork. Generally, the EP is just being sold at live performances, but I'm sure interested parties can always contact the band through their facebook if they want a copy. Its only $3 and worth it for fans of the band.
This EP is quite good. The Cold Beyond are incredible and if you've ever had a chance to catch them in a live setting, they will blow you away. Like the author of this post wrote, TCB is raw, visceral and pummeling, in addition, there is a strand of agony and pain interlaced throughout. This element is crucial and it is pulled off incredibly well, especially for a two-piece band. The drummer knows when to pound and when to back off and allow the singer to invoke pain and suffering. Great stuff. Gotta love the cover photo of bombs dropping, too!
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