My Ruin - The Shape of Things to Come...

Rodrigo

Heat in 7
Apr 17, 2001
883
3
18
Southern California
MY RUIN – THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME…
Century Media - 2003

By Rodrigo Escandon

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It seems that locally here in Los Angeles, people are going nuts over My Ruin. There have been record release parties, live shows and just a lot of talk about them. I was hoping that by listening to The Shape of Things to Come… EP (a prelude to their full-length The Horror of Beauty) I could understand why this band seems to be getting attention. After many listens I am still trying to figure out because to my ears My Ruin don’t sound like anything special.

In truth the opener “Made to Measure” is an infectious and furious old-fashioned rock and roll song that is injected with Tairrie B.’s harsh and aggressive singing. But after a while it gets a little repetitive and all I recall after this song ends is the singing and that does not bode very well for the music. “Grotesque” features more of the same singing and a slithery tempo that is just unremarkable. “Unmanageable” features Tarrie talking at times instead of singing which is a welcomed idea until she starts singing again. The music is slow with some hints of melody but then it goes back into the distorted unmemorable mess. “Sex Junkie” is a Plasmatics cover and I have never heard the original and therefore I don’t know if this version does it justice but it sounds like more of the same with crappier production. Oh yeah, if you did not have enough of “Made to Measure” there is also a radio edit version, which is 3 seconds shorter than the original and from what I can tell all that was edited were “harsh” words.

This EP also comes with a 13-minute video directed by Tairrie in the 1920’s film noir style with interviews with all the band members, live show footage and generally just an inside look at the band. I did find it interesting that Tairrie was asked what her favorite song on the album (The Horror of Beauty )was and she responded with “Made to Measure”. If that is truly the shape of things to come then I definitely do not want to be involved with that.

Century Media Website
My Ruin Official Website