Made Out Of Babies

The Ruiner

[4.5/5]

The Ruiner kicks off with the thunderously discordant metal freakout “Cooker,” which sounds like the Brooklyn combo are actually making something out of babies. Under a lopsided beat, psychedelic keyboards swirl and splash like lava, and frontwoman Julie Christmas yowls warnings, threats and pulses of pure pain as if she’s been burnt right down to the bone. She’s a tortured angel in “Grimace,” spasming under an assault of a grinding bassline, razor-wire distortion and seismic drums. Half of Made Out Of Babies’ third album grates like a double-time (and double-jarring) take on Christmas’ beautifully distressed Battle Of Mice project. Drummer Matthew Egan’s percussion is brutally hypnotic, and the sexy singer switches from unbearable dismay to rapturous swooning so easily, you’d swear she was supernatural. (THE END) D.X. Ferris