Are we really going 3 for 3 on blackened speed releases this week? Yes, we are! How appropriate it is to review such hellish metal when the weather outside reflects said climate? Our European brethren told their record-breaking heatwave to fuck off once and for all, so now we’re getting the brunt of it in the Midwest. Thanks guys! Truthfully, I can’t complain too much. I’m typing this very review from the comfort of my moderately tempered bedroom, and as far as unpredictable weather goes, Chicago is as synonymous for this as it is corrupt politicians and drive-bys! In other words, we’re as known for these characteristics as Europe is ripping blackened speed.
Similar to Phantom and Speedslut, Ruyned are relatively new when it comes to the underground metal game. Hailing from Romania, they formed in 2023, and have been on an absolute tear ever since. In just a few short years, they’ve unleashed two demos and two full lengths. Their latest, Profanum Sacrificium, is their first on the storied Osmose Productions: One-time home to Exciter, Absu, Sadistik Exekution, Bewitched, and countless others legendary acts. In other words, this French boutique label hasn’t accepted anything less than the cream of the crop since their 1991 inception.
As for Ruyned, their brand of blackened speed comes, for the most part, straight out of the glorious year of ’84, conjuring shadows of Bathory’s eponymous debut and Sodom’s In the Sign of Evil. There are no mosh pit moments or boneheaded aggro outbursts to confuse this for a blackened thrash release (no offense, Toxic Holocaust). No, this is a pedal to the metal, go for the throat, speed ’til you bleed bonanza. Funny enough, I also can’t help but notice the way in which the songs are sequenced, as if to put forth this idea of a “side speed” and a “side black”.
Demonic speedsters “Speedchain”, “Sex’n Speed”, and “Sex Commander 666” get the album off to a breakneck start, emphasizing maniacal tempo and wild delivery above all. Some of the riffs even boast a black ‘n’ roll quality, particularly those on the intro for “Sex Commander 666”. Come “Orgasm Through Death” (that’s what she said), things take a turn for the blackened. On this cut, as well as the title track and “Malleus Maleficarium”, the band incorporates midpaced tempos, unorthodox instrumentation (Acoustic guitar makes an appearance on “Malleus”!), and guitar lines reminiscent of that strange period between black metal’s first and second waves. Let’s call it the 1.5 wave, and think bands like Samael and Master’s Hammer, albeit not as blatantly bizarre as the latter.
Come the closing “Witches Gallöw”, Ruyned brutalizes us with one last blast of ’84 style witching metal before returning back to the underworld that spawned them. Just like I said about Speedslut the other day, this band might be young, but they know what they want and they do it frighteningly well. At just under a half hour in runtime, Profanum gets the job done without overstaying its welcome, speeding, walloping, and blackening its feral self around just long enough to leave its imprint on our battered eardrums and damned souls. Indeed, sex n’ speed is all you need!
8 out of 10
Label: Osmose Productions
Genre: Black/Speed Metal
For fans of: Bathory, Sodom, Bütcher
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