“The past has never left us”, says Poison Ruïn mastermind Mac Kennedy. On the band’s third album, Hymns From The Hills, he embraces this reality with increasing clarity and urgency.
Looking at the global rise of violence, hatred and division, it’s becoming increasingly hard to stay in the present and face reality; to not flee into the blissful ignorance of fantasy realms or the warm embrace of nostalgia, even in alternative spaces. That’s no new development: Escapism and a longing for more primitive, fantastical times is almost ingrained into the DNA of genres like black metal and dungeon synth. But while Poison Ruïn have their fair share of similarities with these genres, either aesthetically or soundwise, they double down on some of the most primal functions of punk rock: to alert, to rage, to embolden and to overcome our real-life struggles collectively.
This seeming dichotomy of the mystical and the harsh reality, or grandeur and fury, has been at the heart of Poison Ruïn since the band released their first demo in 2020. And it’s what keeps them ahead of and separate from the pack on their third album, Hymns From The Hills. Tapping into the rich punk rock, hardcore and anarcho punk history of their hometown, Philadelphia, this record proves once again that the medieval worldbuilding of these dungeon punks is not just a mere aesthetic. This is not escapism – it’s social criticism cloaked in chainmail and rich symbolism.
A retelling of history
“I am anti nostalgia. There is nothing nostalgic and very little historical about our band”, explains band leader Mac Kennedy, who once again wrote and recorded the album by himself. “There is no ‘appeal’ of the past. The idea is that the past has never left us, our linear concept of history is an incorrect and propagandized lie. The same power structures that corrupt and destroy life today were present in any other time. Our aim is to emphasize this point, not romanticize it. The idea is that these power structures may never leave us, but it is our goal to identify and stand up to them at any time.”
In the face of ceaseless and ageless social issues and struggles, Hymns From The Hills feels like a call to stand and fight for something in this long quest called life. It asks you not to be a silent witness to history, but to take writing history into your own hands. As the harmonica-accentuated title track, simultaneously a battle anthem and song of victory, states: “And as they whisper of the horrors / we share in memories of merriment and glory / Don’t you know that it always just depends who tells the story?”
Just as with all previous Poison Ruïn releases, Mac Kennedy has written and recorded Hymns From The Hills in the band’s rehearsal space, without professional studio equipment – a somewhat anachronistic approach in the age of hyper-polished, technology-driven productions – and a conscious one. “Good records have character. Good recordings have an ‘artifact’ quality – something of time or place stamped into their sound”, says Mac. “A DIY approach can certainly help achieve this. More importantly, one of the core aims of this project is to create music that stands outside of simple genre guidelines. Writing and recording alone is a practical way to provide the space and time to experiment and allow ideas to mature. The inertia provided by recording with a group or in a studio can be a great thing, but it can also make many decisions for you.”
No limits
If you’re expecting to hear or feel any sense of limitation based on this work mode on Hymns From The Hills, you’re gravely mistaken. If anything, this is Poison Ruïn’s most versatile output yet, with some songs dating back to the earliest days of the band. In a recent interview with Discogs, Mac ascribes the most influential records for the band to Wipers, Sacrilege, Killing Joke, Satyricon and Ramones. Insert some of the spirit of Rudimentary Peni, and you have a perfect summary of this record. Always at home somewhere in the wasteland between punk rock and metal, these songs see the musician turn into an armed horseman further trampling down the walls and borders of genres and scenes.
On the first half of the album, there’s the seducingly catchy Lily Of The Valley, the galloping, heavy-hitting Eidolon, and the dreamlike ambient track Howls From The Citadel. The second album half offers songs like Puzzle Box that show the band’s post-punk influences clearer than ever before. Add to that the almost doomy instrumental Sleeping Giant and the blastbeat-fueled finale The Standoff, and you end up with the most ambitious record Poison Ruïn have put out; one that confidently stretches out its branches while staying firmly rooted in its origins.
A vibrant dream
To bring this vision to its full potential, Poison Ruïn enlisted Jonah Falco for the mix and Arthur Rizk for the mastering of the album, resulting in a more grand and crystalline hi-fi sound, enriched with the warm crackling of tape-recorded segments throughout. “I wanted to experiment with a clearer, but still atmospheric, overall sound for this particular album”, Mac explains. “This allowed for additional room in the mixes for additional instrumental overdubs. I always want an album listening experience to have a dreamlike logic. This calls for surprises, changes in tone and color. This particular record is a more vibrant dream, that is all.”
This vibrancy doesn’t take any of the edge off of Hymns From The Hills – on the contrary, it makes these sonic attacks even more trenchant and amplifies an anger that is not an empty stylistic device but fuel for action and change. So, put on this record, pick up your axe or battle flail and crush the modern-day apathy in the face of injustice!
