Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
To keep quiet, to keep the peace, can often be close to martyrdom, it can be seen in the eyes of some as being too much on the fence, not wishing to antagonise either story being told; in truth it should be laudable but as the heavens open and suppression reigns, so Silence & Ruin can be the master of all.
The heavier side of Rock or Metal doesn’t have a natural affinity with the city of Liverpool and yet in dark corner, pushing against the light and the hush, comes the noise of the industrial and the gargantuan and once it is heard it is impossible to drown out in any way possible, no amount of smothering, of the stifling gag will put out the fire that lives in the belly of Rain May Fall; like Pandora trying to hold back the inevitable hope, the consequences of trying to ignore the band would be catastrophic.
Silence & Ruin, the four track E.P. by the band is wonderfully abrasive, it kicks out with the force of a stallion, full of testosterone and biting satire in its chewed through harness, its whinnying heard across the fields and the feel of steam rising off the back, the animal is unleashed and Rain May Fall where it must.
The four tracks, Admit, Control, Watch Me Drown and Why Would I are supple, they are full of sinew, muscle and embedded anger, the bitterness un-disguisable and yet full of that idealistic hope that Pandora herself gave to the world, in the end hope will win, just as even the rain may fall and possible floods tear at the fabric of society, there will always be a break in the deluge, a chance to gather the thoughts and quieten down the uninvited.
Watch Me Drown especially is hard hitting, the stallion that learned to box, to kick out and save its hide from being branded by the foolish and terrifyingly awkward, this is a horse with no saddle, a rider who knows when to let the beast take charge and who enjoys that feeling of sweat and muscle between its thighs.
A dramatic and heavy hitting set of songs that punch and scrap with the best of them, the only smothering going on is in the weak willed who decry such actions; Silence & Ruin is enough to leave them and the listener speechless for a while.
Ian D. Hall