‘Beneath a Burning Sky’ cracks open crystalline catharsis and visceral vindication in Course of Ruin’s raw melodic punk return –

After a quarter of a century hiatus, the Cali-based catalysts of alt-punk melodicism, Course of Ruin, return with Beneath a Burning Sky, the opening track of their new EP, The Stonington Project. It lands like a time capsule breaking open through your speakers, flinging you straight back into the visceralism of emotion-driven rhythmic tension.

The production lets the angular high guitar notes ring out as crystalline catharsis while the gnarled momentum of the rhythm section pummels its way through the distortion. Beneath a Burning Sky becomes an expansively gratifying release, the kind that hits the right spot as the scoured-with-vindication vocals chameleonically shift through aggression and harmony, stitching their own volatile sermon into the mix.

Formed in California in the mid-90s, the band has spun through several incarnations before finding its final line-up with Joey Adkins, Dave Mraz, Jacob Masciave and Chris Jones, a set of players who built their name on fast tempos, tasty riffs and songs written at the brink of combustion. Their twenty-five-year break has not blunted their instinct for intricacy; Beneath a Burning Sky holds some of the most arresting instrumental hooks I have heard this year.

The savant-esque atmosphere, the euphoria, and the sheer furore coursing through the release all serve as a reminder of why so many people gravitated towards this corner of punk and hard post-rock. The high-octane catharsis of their synthesis carries the weight of history without leaning on it; Course of Ruin sounds as authentic as it gets while burning at the emotional temperatures that defined their early years. If NOFX, The Flatliners and Rise Against are still on your playlists, Course of Ruin should be too.

Beneath a Burning Sky is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast