Satan Laughing Spreads His Wings
Ruins “Reversible Sabbath”
It’s Tuesday, and it’s time to rock.
Honestly, I’d be a totally faking it to pretend I’m a Ruins aficionado. The avant/prog stuff generally intimidates me–if you’ve been paying attention, you can tell I’m much more of a pop fan in my dotage. When I do take it in, I process it as genre music, and really at that point I’d rather throw on some dub or bossa nova or something.
On the other hand it’d be pretty damn ignorant to dismiss the long-running Japanese outfit–a bass and drum duo, with drummer Tatsuya Yoshida serving as the bandleader and only constant member since Ruins’ 1987 debut.
So this is me dipping my toe into much deeper waters, via a track from last year’s Black Sabbath covers comp on Temporary Residence, Everything Comes and Goes. The disc, it’s worth noting, doesn’t actually promise covers, but rather “interpretations and mutations,” which might mean it’s not really for Sabbath fans.
And even on a project that features minimal ambient Sabbath, postrock Sabbath, country-folk Sabbath, spazz rock Sabbath, jazz rock Sabbath, etc., Ruins felt compelled to offer a (tongue-in-cheek?) Engrish almost-apology in the liner notes, “(we hope Sabbath fan will not angry with this song).”
I will claim to be a Sabbath fan, although my fandom to date hasn’t escaped the borders of the original Ozzy years.
I will not angry with this song.
“Reversible Sabbath” is really the disc’s standout–deploying limber yet heavy drumming and bass distortion set to stun for a 2:34 instrumental medley of Sabbath’s greatest riffs. Each riff is repeated long enough to sink in, maybe long enough for a trainspotting/game show moment, “uh, uh, Sweet Leaf, no, uh… OK,” and then it’s on to the next.
When a song engages you on that level, don’t call it a gimmick please, you stand up and notice. It’s rocking and smile-inducing, and also a wonderful tribute, in the truest sense, to the depth of Tony Iommi’s rock riff compositional genius.
My patented five minutes of Google research per post tells me that the riff medley is a trick that Ruins has rocked before, on 2000’s Pallaschtom and 2002’s Tzomborgha. (n.b., “Black Sabbath Medley Reversible” off the latter is not the same as the Everything Comes and Goes track.)
Prog with a sense of humor and brevity–this might be the prog for me.
