The intense delivery of A Wilhelm Scream’s fourth full length album, Ruiner, is as meticulous and skilled as it was on their previous record, Mute Print. There is a clearly audible eighties-hair metal influence that makes itself known during the entirety of Ruiner, however the sound of the album can easily be classified as “post-hardcore.” Mixing a mosh-worthy, old skool punk rock sound, with an early nineties surf rock vibe, and throwing in some poppy yet gruff vocals, the result is an unorthodox pop-metal outcry that refuses to go unnoticed. The songs on this album range from harrowing tales of despair, sexual deviance and friendship, to sickness and death, and everything in between.
Even though there is a heavy element throughout the songs on Ruiner, A Wilhelm Scream is a band that creates a signature style of music, all the while successfully remaining appealing to the force-fed MTV pop-culture that often rejects anything with substance. Ruiner runs about forty minutes, but the density of the creativity packed in to such a small space gives the disc inner value and a complete sound that never leaves the listener unfulfilled.
