Having never heard of Vein.fm, nor having seen the press release, I’m not entirely sure what I expected when I hit play on This World Is Going To Ruin You, but it surely wasn’t the multi-hued sonic explosion that greeted me. Drawing on everything from industrial to jazz, Vein.fm’s sound is blisteringly unique and the band delight in simply battering the listener with unexpected digressions. Don’t bother trying to find an easy handle for this lot, because there isn’t one. However, for those who like their music to consistently challenge their expectations (while simultaneously clearing out their sinuses), Vein.Fm are a truly awesome proposition.
So, yes, while I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Vein.fm, the crushing industrial horror of Welcome Home was not it. Reminiscent of Slipknot’s more random sonic excursions (think: Prosthetics and you’re in the ballpark), the track emerges, hammers the listener into the ground and then promptly gives way to the stabbing, jazz-metal of The Killing Womb. Dizzying and eclectic, don’t let the varied elements the band incorporate fool you into thinking this will be an easy ride – the disparate influences are welded to a metal chassis that has all the empathy of a T800 on a killing spree. Nor is there much time to adjust between tracks. With the opening pair, the band dispatch your senses in under three-minutes and then plunge headfirst into Versus Wyoming, a sub-one-minute interlude that sounds like Fantomas assaulting Bugs Bunny. Befitting such a segue, the band hoist a Dillinger Escape Plan banner next, the spasmodic assault of Fear In Non Fiction harking back to Miss Machine-era DEP, with all the mangled, turn-on-a-knife-edge dynamics intact. In the midst of all this, the one thing you’d surely not expect is a soaring melody so, of course, the band drop one in. And so it goes… Lights Out is basically the sound of every horror movie you’ve ever watched, condensed into a white hole of searing noise, and then the first half winds up with Wherever You Are, a title that takes on a considerably threatening aspect when you consider the darkwave dirge the band have concocted as its soundtrack.
The album’s second half literally explodes into being with the stabbing, percussive Magazine Beach – a deceptively melodic track that nods to an occasional alternative / punk influence amidst the band’s sonic stew. In contrast, Inside Design scars the listener with sixty-seconds of frantic death-grind. Next up, Hellnight punishes the listener with syncopated slashes of guitar, only to fade out in a storm of feedback – arguably the only moment on the album to this point that isn’t trying to batter you to death with a hammer. It’s a fleeting moment of calm, however, and the band are back on their feet and stabbing at your face with a screwdriver on Orgy In The Morgue, a crunchy, splenetic outpouring that is made all the more effective by the garbled vocals. The track dips into ambient noise before the eerie Wavery showcases a very different set of dynamics. Built around a hypnotic rhythm, Wavery sounds like Massive Attack going head-to-head with Deftones, a potent mixture. It leaves the dark, piano-led Funeral Sound to bring things to an end. Initially a funereal ballad that drifts through the consciousness, the band use its seven-minute runtime to build to a fearsome crescendo. Nevertheless, it’s a welcome melodic conclusion, leaving the album on an emotional note despite the ferocity of the preceding twenty-four minutes.
There’s so much going on in This World Is Going To Ruin You, that it’s hard to know where to start. Influences range from the blistering post hardcore of Botch and the grinding horror of Dillinger Escape Plan to the melodic rage of Slipknot and the eerie post-metal manoeuvres of Deftones. A genuinely original melee that frequently twists outs of the listener’s grasp just as you think you’ve got a grip on what’s coming next, it’s a bold and exciting album that is well worth checking out. 9
