Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

At the end of the world, what lullabies would you sing those who you love and what songs of anger would you chant with fingers pointed at those who have done you wrong; any decent person would probably suggest that the two somehow meld into one, that you treat those who have done you disservice the generosity of forgiveness in such bleak times, after all, the music is there to build bridges not hate. Despite it all music is a savior and perhaps a guiding light in a world of Modern Ruin.

For Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, Modern Ruin is energetic, an album at full gallop which strides across the musical course at such a rate of knots that if it found itself competing in a race over rough ground and with Red Rum snorting words of derision in an attempt to put it off, it would come out the victor, the greatest horse would lose every time to Modern Ruin.

Hardcore Punk is always welcome, it should be a cornerstone of the day in which the body finds itself revolting against the so called lie of life, the genre, always quick to burn, reminds us that whilst we are never truly free to live our own existence, in Punk it gives us the means to live outside the bubble for a while and that is certainly what Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes operate under; there is no Time in which to be safe, sometimes you have do some damage in order to feel alive.

In tracks such as Lullaby, Snake Eyes, Wild Flowers, Acid Veins and God is My Friend, Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes the anger of life is obvious, and even with the foray into the grand and opulent feel of the symphonic pastoral pastimes in the background, the anger, the steam rising from the stallions back, is a palpable and glorious way to burn the ashes of everything inside the bubble that lies and disrespects life.

An upbeat and distinctly powerful album, Modern Ruin is an album that repairs the spirits and blows the cobwebs to their logical Armageddon.

Ian D. Hall