With previous releases titled Eternal Torment and Sex’n Speed, Timișoara, RUYNED made it clear that its goal was to unleash short but effective battle raids into the lands of modern metal, armed with weapons and vengeance from a time long past. On its second, Profanum Sacrificium, the band switches gears, its vengeful wrath for the travesty of Europe’s roughly two centuries of witch hunting, trials and torment of innocents by the truly guilty.

A contemplative guitar and keyboard pattern lulls us into false security, soon to be shredded by the rakish ‘n’ ragged roar of ‘Speedchain’. More precise in attack than the recently reviewed SPEEDSLUT, but no BELPHEGOR when it comes to technical prowess, the opener sets the pace at the redline, ‘Sex’n Speed’ keeping the momentum. I can hear snatches that might ring a little too closely to METALLICA’s ‘Whiplash’ for comfort, but not so much as to deem it intentionally filched.

‘Sex Commander 666’ and ‘Orgasm Through Death’ blend MIDNIGHT and BESTIAL WARLUST competently, the latter slowing the pace noticeably. The three-in-a-row peans to sex, sex, and more sex kick ass when you’re 22, but let’s hope the trio eventually expands its lyrical arsenal before long.

The ambient interlude of ‘Daemonis Ritualis’ acts as an intro to the remainder of the album, and RUYNED’s attempt at that shifting of armaments alluded to a moment ago, the title track beginning the a tale of accusation (both true and false), torture and slaughter of possibly thousands in Europe during the 15th-17th centuries. Is this the same band? Not only has the quality of musicianship improved, the arrangement of the songs themselves grows by lengths almost immediately. Careening, frenzied, but focused, ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ is memorable, an air of the slightly epic just beneath the surface, even building from the halfway mark, reconstructing the song in real time, as it were, and the era which it seeks to conjure.

Ending with the climactic ‘Witches Gallow’ and an alehouse styled outro, I can’t help but think this release would’ve done better as two EPs, so disparate is each half from the other. Bands grow over time, and Profanum Sacrificium is but the second from RUYNED, a clearly young band in search of itself, but bursting with passion. Here’s hoping…
Review By: Lord Randall

RUYNED
Profanum Sacrificium
Osmose Productions