A vocal middle ground between Matthew Bellamy of MUSE and Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys, Modern Ruin by Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes is a tenacious record, with deep descending fuzz on the overdrive of the guitars and a drum beat the refuses to relent. A mixture of punk and hard rock, it’s a consistent record and provides a solid, decent sound throughout.
Opening with reverbed up mystique of the intro of Bluebelle it feels oddly reflective up until the point where the track tosses you into a heady rock fervour with the beginning of Lullaby, bouncing rhythmically like a rocked-out funeral procession, with hints of Karnivool entwined in the amidst the reverb and fuzzed out guitar.
Retro vibes are felt halfway through the album, with Wild Flowers feeling like a slightly punkish cockney pub chant. Acid Veins feels like a painful plight of emotion from the onset, with lead singer Frank Carter shouting sentences of pain, possibly detailing the pains of heartbreak.
God Is My Friend feels like an entertaining anthem/track, with a deeply recessing chorus accompanied by marching verses, which bandaged with their sharp, defiant lyrics is sure to punch the listener in the gut and feel good about it.
The rest of the record tones out slightly and at some points feel as if the band has taken a change of pace. With the bluesy feels felt in Thunder, to the swingy intro of Real Life – the latter half of the record is topped off with Modern Ruin and finishing up with musical gem, Neon Rust.
The final track exemplifies what the rest of the album really is, feeling like a tsunami of punk at the onset and later an emotionally heavy rock, the record is enticing as it is variable – solid effort by Frank Carter and his Rattlesnakes.
