Irish metal band For Ruin are set to release their new four-track digital-only EP Elapse. We asked frontman John Murphy the BIG questions . . .
The single marks the band's first release in seven years, the previous release being the band’s third full-length album, 2013’s Ater Angelus.
Founder and current sole member Murphy re-ignited the band’s spark over the past two to three years, writing a wide range of new material.
Tell us three things about yourself?
Well, while not playing extreme metal of one form or another, I moonlight as a physicist, I used to travel far too much for my day job from one corner of the globe to the other (and I don’t miss that one bit) and I’m obsessed with recording technology and audio. That’s three, right? :)
How would you describe your music?
Extreme metal is not for everyone, and never will be - and it’s not meant to be. I describe it as one of the ways I have of getting my creativity out and For Ruin is one of a few creative avenues I’m lucky to have. The music is aggressive yet highly melodic and this time around it features a nice mixture of vocal styles. I’ve been doing this band since around 2003 and have always stuck to generic harsh vocal styles - but while I've always been able to sing, I never bought a cleaner vocal style to For Ruin until now.
Who are your musical inspirations?
My earliest inspirations were always guitar based in some way so I guess I was doomed from the start - but a lot of time as a kid was spent listening to everything from Chris Rea, The Beatles, The Police and somewhere along the line I borrowed an LP copy of Brothers in Arms (which I scratched and had to replace so I kinda bought my first LP by mistake!) and I adored that album and still do. But towards the end of primary school I got the bug for more guitars and went in the direction of Lizzy, Maiden, Purple and graduated on to Sabbath and the Thrash Metal bands of the time - that was my grounding. I moved on to more extreme metal in the 90s, a lot of bands from Scandinavia and the US filled my Walkman in those days (and still do - expect without the Walkman part). All of those bands inspired me, and I added to them over the years - Rory Gallagher is my hero, I guess.
How did you occupy yourself during the coronavirus lockdown?
I’m still pretty much locked down - I live in the wilderness of North Cork in a very isolated area (which is great) but most of the time I spent in my converted barn, writing and recording the music on the Elapse EP (and the Relapse EP which will follow it later this year). I listened to a lot of podcasts and watched a bunch of shows and movies that passed me by over the years which was brilliant. I’m a huge fan of The Sopranos, so I’m re-watching that for the 50th time and an associated cast podcast.
What’s your favourite song right now?
I guess favourites come and go, but if I had to name a few - probably something like Brothers in Arms, Synchronicity II, Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name, I Stay Away from Alice in Chains and anything from Unanimated's Ancient God of Evil.
Favourite lyric of all time?
Probably Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life what would it be?
Only one? Too tough to name one . . . I’m sure we'd go insane if we could only listen to one more song for the rest of our (hopefully lengthy) lives but here's a few desert island songs I can listen to anytime - Small Town Boy, Rory's I Fall Apart, Black Velvet, Heroes, Pearl Jam's Black, 4th of July from Soundgarden, The Man's Too Strong, Gimme Shelter.
Where can people find your music/more information?
Bandcamp - https://forruin.bandcamp.com/
iTunes - https://music.apple.com/ie/artist/for-ruin/273085691
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ForRuin/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/forruin
