Burning Stone

Chocolate Synthesizer	Graviyaunosch	Pop Tatari	1986-1992	Refusal Fossil "Fiendish and crazed, Ruins explore string-popping ideas only to degenerate into complex whirlpools of distortion, then regroup into a new version of their original idea with surprising grace. Ruins grow on you like a cancerous cell, and are killer." -- CMJ The members of Jap...
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Just to clear up some confusion...
The track listing in the 1999 Shimmy Disc reissue (Shimmy-057) differs from the Japanese import. In addition there are only 13 tracks listed, although there are 15 on the CD! The unlisted tracks are: Dapp (3:30) Shostak Ombrich (3:12) So this reissue is essentially the same as the import, but in a different track order. Wonder why...legalities perhaps? Anyways, this is probably the best sounding of the early Ruins issues.

I've been a Ruins fan for almost 10 years now....
...and whenever someone who has never heard the band before asks for a recommendation, I direct them to this album. Honestly, all their albums are worthy of your time and perusal, but this one still stands out for me. It showcases the band in their most accessible form, though the word "accessible" is extremely relative when referring to Ruins. All Ruins albums have some common foundations: intricate electric bass and drum patterns, vocals sung in operatic voices [yes, and sung in an invented language - the reality is the voices simply become another instrument tossed into the mix] and a strong zeuhl-prog bend to their arrangements. Albums prior to this one tend to be too thrashy for the unprepared ear and albums after this one up the prog quotient to unprecedented levels. Burning Stone perfectly balances the two and creates a euphoric rush that's not too dense to get into or too harsh to enjoy. It's surprising how easy it is to get some of these melodies stuck in your head; particularly "Praha in Spring", "Misonta" and "Negotiation." Like I said, if you've never heard this band before and are curious, pick this album up first, then try Hyderomastgroningem. If you like what you hear there, then you can move on to the heavier stuff.

Alien Prog Spazzrock
A quick overview,Ruins is a long running project by founder/drummer/vocalist Tatsuya Yoshida.It has always been just two people(although there have been several different bassists over the years)doing vocals,drums,and bass guitar.Ruins are most often compared to prog rock groups like Magma(a big influence acknowledged by Yoshida)and others from the 1970's. On Burning Stone,Yoshida began to expand the palette of Ruins,with colorful melodies even popping up on some tracks. This is still a pulverizing prog rock attack,but it has a sharper,futuristic edge to it.Initially I thought it was a bit muted compared to the previous album,Stonehenge,but there is so much more variety and textures than that album. Yoshida and then bassist Ryuchi Masuda added various effects to their voices and instruments this time around.Yoshida peppers his spastic yet crisp percussion with sampled sounds like steel drums,breaking glass,vibes,etc. Bassist Masuda in retrospect was instrumental in the development of Ruins into the more complex style they retain today.While Yoshida is credited with writing all the songs,Masuda should get some props for the variety of sounds he squeezes from his bass.I believe he played a 5 string bass on this one,and he uses what sounds like a heavy flange effect on most songs,and a sharper,less muddy distortion than on previous Ruins records. What you have here are neck snapping prog attacks with wild effects zooming all over,alternating falsetto vocals with faux-death metal growling and vocoder enhanced madness.Yoshida took a cue from Magma and makes up his own meaningless words to sing,and reading the lyric sheet they are quite something to get your tongue around,a brief example being:"GDRASSI GUASSIWOH ZEASSI GDRASSIGORRTHO"uh yeah,for the western listener,he might as well be singing in his native language(Japanese)! The biggest surprise here was some of the songs have very colorful melodies and are more like some strange alien proggresive pop than the brutal hi-tech madness on other cuts. Yes,this stuff is definitely wacky,it's very strange,even though Yoshida's music owes alot to Magma and other prog rockers,it's STILL beyond weird.

Go Here:
The reason i gave this album 5 stars is because BURNING STONE is amazing. I've never heard Stonehenge, BUT the song samples above match the album i bought at [an internet site]. Go to [an internet site] and YOU WILL get the songs that match the samples above, which i believe is the true Burning Stone

Track listing does not agree with actual content
As listed above, I bought this and was surprised to hear Stonehenge rather than Burning Stone. I assume this is Shimmy Disc's error. In any case, much as I love Stonehenge's lo-fi, punk-prog terror, I would really have loved to hear this album, which by all accounts is one of Ruins' best. I *was* able to return this disc at Amazon.com's expense.