RINGWORM

RINGWORM     “Seeing Through Fire”

By Dr. Abner Mality

Never known for being anything less than a battering ram, this is RINGWORM’s most direct and violent outburst yet. If you thought they couldn’t get any rawer and stripped down, you’re in for a surprise here. With a cover that looks kind of like POSSESSED meets DISMEMBER, this one will vaporize you from the opening seconds of the title track.

It is fair to say this is the fastest and most thrashing RINGWORM so far. The hardcore touches are still here in spades, but this just sounds more metallic over all. “Carved In Stone” for sure has touches of prime SLAYER while “Unavoidable Truth” is a groove monster with almost crust-grind brutality. “Thought Crimes” is straight hardcore and “House of Flies” is very riff-based pure metal with a punch. But the absolute flesh ripper is “Mental Control”, which starts with a screaming barrage of lead guitar that leads into the fastest, angriest track that RINGWORM has ever done. This one will make you beg for mercy, but as the song title here says, “No Solace, No Quarter, No Mercy”!

Throughout the album, James “The Human Furnace” Bulloch sounds about as restrained as a Parris Island D.I. on crack. He is aptly named. Only the final track “Playing God” brings any relief, with a moodier, more restrained (but still hard-nosed) track with twin guitar melodies unheard elsewhere on the album. All in all, “Seeing Through Fire” takes RINGWORM to a level of sonic violence hitherto unmatched in their already impressive catalogue.

NUCLEAR BLAST 

RINGWORM