Well, well—it’s good to see these guys again, isn’t it? Vein.fm’s Errorzone remains one of the most thrilling hardcore listens of recent years, extrapolating the industrial brawn of Code Orange into something even more caustic and vicious, but not quite receiving the due attention for it. Mainstream crossover on the level of, say, Turnstile was never going to be an outcome, but outside of the small set of critical acclaim they garnered, it feels as though the spotlight has shifted off Vein.fm in a disappointing way (even with the name change that makes it impossible to write out without linking to their website). It’s probably easy to predict that The World Is Going To Ruin You will meet a similar outcome too, though that’s no indictment on its quality. More so, it’s an observation that Vein.fm are completely uninterested in creative expectations outside of their own; there’s not a hint of tamping back on the angularity and ferocity here, and that’s exactly what makes this as thrilling as ever. As a journey from birth to death chronicled through deep, rough-cut violence, there’s a combustibilty to what Vein.fm are doing here, be that in Anthony DiDio’s vocal performance carved straight from the metalcore ragers of old, or the deeply compelling atmosphere that the band seek to fill in every corner with. It’s not hard to see the Slipknot parallels in the overall creative direction, where the mix will be filled out with samples to carve out pockets of melody on their own like on Magazine Beach, but it’s more prominent in the oppressive darkness that Vein.fm play with. This is a cold, clinical album by design—far from the pejorative where that could lack humanity—where the closeness in sound only accentuates the hairpin bends and wild shifts undertaken.
It goes without saying, then, that the crop of influences at play are still utilised here, and still components in the final product rather than just a wholesale base. Even on Errorzone, Vein.fm were exceptionally good at reshaping existing tones and sounds into their own thing, something which This World Is Going To Ruin You expounds upon through its tighter, hardcore-oriented form. They continue to blast through sub-two-minute barrages without it feeling like wasted energy, mostly in how their particular instrumental twists will fall rather than any compositional refinement, but it’s a hell of an approach nonetheless. With a guitar tone that’s more akin to lobbing saw blades and the clattering, metallic percussion that always sounds great in heavy music like this (seriously, for a shorthand way to convey an industrial cladding in hardcore, this is how you do it), Vein.fm ensure there’s not even a hint of fat across the board. Even when that makes way for a more ‘traditional’ nu-metal turn on Wherever You Are or Funeral Sound, it’s still delivered with the grinding, gnashing maw in full view, the amalgamation of Slipknot, Code Orange and Nine Inch Nails that yields such a profound mood of terror and dread. In terms of cultivating that mood, this is a masterful display through and through; there’s a punishing incisiveness to shrapnel bursts like Versus Wyoming and Lights Out, which never loses its shape when given more room to seethe. If anything, it shows Vein.fm’s adaptability far more strongly when it is, where they can still sound utterly vicious and cutting even with greater space to fill. And yes, that all comes with the huge caveat that music this sharply devastating is most definitely not for everyone, but it’s a testament to how strong their vision is that Vein.fm succeed so resoundingly despite that. It’s the foundation of the greatest heavy music, particularly in a time where the soundclash approach can pay remarkable dividends, and for the second album in a row now, it’s working like an absolute dream.
8/10
For fans of: Slipknot, Code Orange, Year Of The Knife
‘This World Is Going To Ruin You’ by Vein.fm is released on 4th March on Nuclear Blast Records / Closed Casket Activities.
Words by Luke Nuttall
