Review Text
With their third album, Portland metal experimentalists Eight Bells have sharpened their songwriting approach to create a soundtrack for the end of the world. "Legacy of Ruin" again features the trio's trademark haunting vocal harmonies along with sometimes blistering, and sometimes impressionistic guitar riffing to create heady atmospheres of dark and light. Lyrically, "Legacy of Ruin" focuses on themes of the human condition, natural destruction, death, regret, loss, malice, and retribution. Eight Bells were conceived as the brainchild and songwriting project of Melynda Jackson in 2010. The guitarist and vocalist named the band after the final album of her previous act, SUBARACHNOID SPACE. While the trio evolved through several line-up changes in the beginning, Melynda is now supported by vocalist and bass player Matt Solis (CORMORANT, URSA) Brian Burke (NO SHORES, CAVE DWELLER) on drums. Following the release of the "Isosceles" EP (2011), Eight Bells gained international recognition for their debut album "The Captain's Daughter (2013)" and tour support for SUBROSA across North America. With their sophomore full-length "Landless" (2016), Eight Bells consolidated their reputation as one of the up and coming acts, joined VOIVOD in the US and received an invitation to Psycho Las Vegas, which the trio gladly accepted. Now Eight Bells are poised to share their music with a wider audience. "Legacy of Ruin" was engineered and produced by the masterful Billy Anderson (AMENRA, BELL WITCH, LEVIATHAN, SWANS), and has enabled the trio to reach a new dimension of sound quality. "Legacy of Ruin" is forceful confirmation that contemporary metal can be artistically impressive, and at the same time novel and expansive in it's expression. Time to lean back, close your eyes and let Eight Bells' haunting and beautiful swansong to a dying planet crash all over you in sonic waves. Tracklist: 1. Destroyer 2. The Well 3. Torpid Dreamer 4. Nadir 5. The Crone 6. Premonition
