Happy to receive the latest by Menace Ruine, the very distinctive Canadian Black Metal act…Jennifer Hor (our late lamented Black Metal expert correspondent) has been singing the praises of Menace Ruine since their debut for the Alien8 Recordings label in 2007, and this present writer caught the bug in 2009 when we heard The Die Is Cast, which we characterised as “a medieval Black Metal concept album”.
This magazine’s coverage of the genre has declined since the departure of Jen aka nausika, so even if the trend shows no sign of reversing, it’s still good to hear today’s item The Color Of The Grave is Green (UNION FINALE UNI16) – and I note that we’ve missed at least four full-length releases from this band since 2010…I always assumed they were a duo but today’s record is mostly the work of Geneviève Beaulieu, whom we enjoyed recently on her solo effort Augury, mainly done acoustically with guitar and banjo and her voice. On Grave is Green, it’s Beaulieu who wrote all the music and lyrics, and performed everything apart from the “beats” – programmed or played by Steve de la Moth, plus guest Gélinotte who drums on one track.
As expected, Menace Ruine at this juncture continue to veer towards dark folk modes, with each strong melody sung in a ringing, clear voice that you could use to sharpen your axe and then cut the trees into lumber more efficiently than any crosscut saw. The tunes are carried by layers of intense metallic guitar riffing which ought to satisfy that part of the fanbase that still craves some of the old Black Metal conventions – just tune in to ‘Mingled And One’. But Menace Ruine have been very inventive with these guitar parts, maintaining an insistent pace and rhythm that verges on the obsessive, and brings just the right amount of darkness to each unsettling tune. It’s a genuine departure from the conventions of this genre, which can at times be excessive and histrionic in its airless styles as its (mostly male) creators compete to pledge their allegiance to Satan in ever more blasphemous ways. Now I’m not even sure if all these instrumental sounds are made exclusively with guitars, for instance ‘Let It Flow’ might involve synths and keyboards, but you get the gist.
Fave cut so far is ‘Once A Ghost’ for its manic pace and supernatural hints, but you may prefer the grandeur of ‘At The Mid-Moment of the Night’s Dividing’, a centre-piece of poetic bleakness weighing in at a hefty 10:32 mins and offering Menace Ruine’s highly original take on the Dungeon Synth genre – ponderous drones, Gothic organs…an Ann Radcliffe novel brought to life and recast as seriously atmospheric music. We noted on Augury how Menace Ruine have adopted a rugged lifestyle out in the woods, and the printed insert for The Color Of The Grave is Green confirms how completely integrated their music is with their environment, with nature, and with the unknown forces they seek to express. The lyrics to each song are cut into narrow strips of paper and pasted onto images of birds, forests, and magic symbols such as a puzzle maze and a crescent moon with owl in flight. Most evocative of all is the image of the sleepwalking woman in white, compelled by some nameless force to march towards her doom.
With this striking release, Menace Ruine continue to maintain their unique position as outsider musicians, straddling many genres and colouring outside the lines. (20/10/2025)