I may have had some preconceived notions about My Ruin, or I fell hard under the spell of Century Media promoting this band very persistently. For some reason I expected to hear gothic rock with sensuous female vocals and aggressive guitar. What My Ruin presents, though, on The Shape of Things to Come EP is stoner rock with a muddy guitar sound and female gurgling hardcore vocals.

The Shape of Things to Come, of course, is a pre-taste of a very soon to be released full length The Horror of Beauty. The EP contains 5 audio tracks, one of them, the single hit Made to Measure, being represented in two different versions (which are not that different if you ask me). In addition, the EP contains a mini-movie directed by the singer Tairrie B. herself. I am neither Siskel, nor Roeper (famous US movie critics for those who don’t know), so I will focus on reviewing music only. Too bad I don’t think I will give The Shape of Things to Come any Siskel and Roeper patented “thumbs up”.

The opener hit Made to Measure is pretty much a calling card for the band. Right from the get go My Ruin plunges into their muddy and droning version of guitar driven stoner rock. The riffs are not very complex, but very nu-metal reminiscent. The vocals by Tairrie B. are punky hardcore. She makes some gurgling screams you would never think a female would be capable of. The label is sure right about that. I hear the conviction in Tairrie’s delivery, but I, for sure, don’t like the style or sound of it. Guitarist Mick Murphy throws in a crazy lead midway through the song that breaks up the monotony. Grotesque continues in the similar vein with ‘core screams going atop of tortured guitar undertones. The song ends with a voiceover narration – another vocal style Tairrie B. uses. As if continuing Grotesque, Unmanageable starts with the spoken vocals and simple guitar strumming. Heavy riffs, much heavier than anything else on the EP, accompanied with drum rolls roar in and the voice becomes screamy again. The riffs provide a groovier atmosphere, but the whole palette is still not sitting well with me.

I may be totally off base, but it seems to me that in My Ruin Century Media is trying to create their own Marilyn Manson or Kittie. Or a crossover of both, with three members of My Ruin being females and the undoubted shock value of the band as their live shows would attest. The production on The Shape of Things to Come is very reminiscent of Marilyn Manson as well. Being no fan at all of either of the aforementioned entities I would rather trade shock value for musicianship any day.

My Ruin’s full-length is probably out by now. I certainly wouldn’t make any effort to track it down, but “to each his own” and Manson’s fans may find something they like in The Horror of Beauty.