Rusty Pacemaker
Ruins

Somehow I doubt that a pacemaker is fashioned from a material that rusts, it could have ruinous consequences for its user. Perhaps that is why this Austrian person named Rusty called his second album Ruins. Behind the moniker hides a one-man project, the good Rusty does all the instruments, bar the drums, and the vocals – though on the vocal side he has help from a female vocalist called Lady K. Rusty himself has produced the album and well-known fellow Markus Stock known from many things has mixed and mastered the album. An album that looks quite bleak if you judge it by its cover.

Musically it is more or less as bleak as the cover artwork suggests, it starts by building ruins and ruining buildings and Rusty himself has a rather bleak singing voice. And it is a monotone voice as well, it works well in many of the songs but it feels a bit stale as a whole – then it is very good that he has a lady to spice things up a bit. Solid musicianship and a very strong production, the sound is good through all ten tracks on the album and the tracks show a decent amount of variation. The tempo is usually low though so the lack of variation in tempo could make the album seem to lack a little bit of dynamics. Some may also point out that it lacks a touch of novelty that can be something of a problem for those who looks for that novel feeling in every album he or she hears for the first time.

I think that on balance this is a fairly strong album, I would describe it as a good album. It has several strong points in a few very good songs, the female vocals, great production and a good overall mood to the album. It also has a few weaker points like the male vocals that feels very stale, especially towards the end, I would also say that the albums lacks a bit of dynamic that maybe a pacier song could have given – and I miss that novel feel I get from the greatest albums that show up in my mailbox. So this album may not go down in history as it is not amongst the most fantastic albums I have heard, but that doesn’t take away the fact that I have enjoyed listening to this album despite those apparent flaws and I still like the album a fair bit as a fan but not as much as a critic.

There are a few songs that stand out, like the opening title track that both sets a great tone for the album but also grabs the attention. I also think that Candlemess (not Candlemass that several idiotic reviewers calls the song in reviews I have read around the web) is a great track. I think fans of this genre will find this album very exciting and interesting, I think that it is an album you would not find to be disappointing should you get it. I think Rusty has a lot going for him, but maybe the lady should have sung more and maybe he should up the tempo a little bit but I have still enjoyed listening to the album.

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