Idle Ruin

Fresh blood from Brisbane, Australia, Idle Ruin is a very new band that plays aggressive and in your face Death Thrash Metal music, all with a Blackened Punk touch. I can say, they sound really amazing and the visual aspect of the musician suits too. Time to have a short introduction talk with drummer/vocalist Liam Anthony.

-Hi Guys. What’s up?

Hey mate. It’s getting close to summer here. In Brisbane the summer days are usuallyf. Our metal gigs are coming back though, which is great!

-Tell us how you formed the band?

I originally came up with the concept for Idle Ruin back in 2016. I had been playing drums for several metal bands in Brisbane, but between gigs I would write songs for a death/thrash project that I kept promising myself I’d start one day. I was also planning on moving to Edinburgh this year with my partner, which obviously didn’t happen due to COVID-19.

Around the same time the pandemic struck, a lot of the bands I had been playing in were breaking up or had declined in activity. During the lockdown I decided to revisit the songs I’d previously written and finally begin that aforementioned project. I first considered learning guitar, but ultimately I decided it would take less time to learn to do vocals while playing drums.

Kaleb (guitar) and Josh (bass) are two friends I’ve known in the Brisbane metal community for a long time, and we’ve played together in a previous grindcore band. They were eager to help out with recording the songs, and we tracked them back in July with Descent guitarist Brendan “Pip” Auld, who did a fantastic job. Originally I had intended to just record the EP with Josh and Kaleb for when I’d eventually leave for overseas and restart the band over there with a live line-up. The chemistry us has been excellent (and the international borders are still locked!) so we’re staying together for a while longer writing more tunes, and we’ll be playing a few shows in the new year while restrictions are lifting.

-What are your main influences, musically, lyrical and such?

My musical background has always been in traditional metal or thrash metal, especially Kreator, Iron Maiden, Venom, Judas Priest, etc. I also enjoy grindcore and other hardcore punk/metal crossover type stuff like Wormrot, Extreme Noise Terror, and Black Breath which is probably where the punk influence you mentioned comes from. Kaleb loves his death metal, notably Cannibal Corpse, Artificial Brain and Skeletal Remains, whereas Josh has some pretty diverse influences ranging from psychedelic sludge to grindcore. So yeah, all three of us have had varied musical backgrounds. Conversely, we’ve had people compare Idle Ruin’s music to the likes of Midnight, Gatecreeper, Entombed and in one review “Immolation if they were a thrash band”, so to have those kinds of diverse comparisons is pretty cool.

Lyrically, it’s a mixed bag. Some of the lyrics are either based on current events, stuff going on in the real world, or just a simple and relatable “fuck you” to people who have given you grief. An example of the latter from the EP is “Gods of Glass”, about dickheads who are all smoke and no fire. I’m also a nerd for local history; we also have a few songs about urban legends and criminal events from my hometown of Brisbane. Our single “The Devil’s Trade” is about a supposedly haunted building in Brisbane where workers apparently got injured or died if they didn’t remove their wedding rings upon entry.

-Are or where you guys also active in any other bands and or projects?

Kaleb and Josh are very active in the Brisbane community, they’ve got an intense death metal project in the works which is sounding pretty awesome. Josh is a bassist in about ten or so bands in Brisbane! Kaleb has his solo project When Death Replaces Life who released an EP last year.

Prior to Idle Ruin I played drums for a thrash band called Malakyte from 2010 to 2015. Since then I’ve played for a few varied local bands and did some session work for a project called Tensiion. I’m also currently drumming for Brisbane death metallers Bone Marrow.

As you can probably tell, our local metal community has that classic trope of about ten bands sharing the same drummer or bassist. We have no shortage of guitarists though.

-How’s the Australian Underground scene at the moment? Any young acts you recommend us?

Despite the pandemic shutting down gigs, the lockdown has been a very productive time for a lot of musicians. A few have gone and started their own solo projects, while some of the more established bands have new records on the way.

Odius from Brisbane are a killer new thrash band who have an EP coming out soon, and LiveWire from Sydney are an awesome new melodic speed metal band who’ve dropped a two new singles in the last twelve months. Over the last week I’ve been spinning the new tracks from In Malice’s Wake and Harlott, the new Bastardizer/Wraith split EP and Shatter Brain’s new album.

Oh, and check out the new solo album from Odius’ drummer Chalky Hill, titled “Chalkymate”. You need that in your life.

In short, a lot of great new material has come out from Australia this year despite the circumstances.

-What are your future plans at the moment?

We’ve already started writing for the next recording; we’re looking at possibly doing an album or maybe a split with someone. Either way, we aim to be back in the studio again very soon. As restrictions are easing in Australia we’ve got a few shows lined up. I have some long-term goals for Idle Ruin, but right now the grounded focus is just getting this recording out there and using the restrictions to write more and just develop the band as best as we can. I would love to play Europe as soon as we’re allowed to!

-Who are the 5 most influential bands on the Australian continent over the years?

Influential? That’s a tough one. Everyone knows AC/DC and Rose Tattoo. For metal, I’d have to say Sadistik Exekution and Slaughter Lord, who were definitely an influence on early death metal. That’s four down. Maybe The Wiggles…

-Last words!

Thanks very much for having us in your zine. Idle Ruin’s debut EP will be available December 4; go and check out our Bandcamp page (idleruin.bandcamp.com) or our Facebook page for all relevant updates. Our debut single/music video “The Devil’s Trade” is already out there, so go check it out. To all our followers from outside Australia, stay safe and well.

-Patchman Marco-