We recently asked Oceano guitarist and Chicago area chef Michael Kasper what his favourite album is right now, and unsurprisingly he named tourmates and good friends Within the Ruins‘ newest, Phenomena. But this isn’t just a case of the Illinois deathcore crew axeman name-dropping his buddies’ band, Within the Ruins; Kasper says he listens to the Massachusetts metalcore band every day at the gym.
Kasper: I’d have to say the new Within the Ruins album, Phenonema, is without a doubt my favourite record that’s come out in the last year.
What do you like about it?
Well, I’m an X-Men guy and a Marvel guy and the album’s about that. My first tours with Oceano were with Within the Ruins, so those guys are near and dear to my heart and they write some of the best music. From Joe Cocchi’s guitar playing to Tim Goergen’s vocals, it’s an all-around, solid banger of an album, from front to back. I usually listen to it every day; it starts my cardio routine in the gym.
There are so many bands doing the metalcore thing now. What makes Within the Ruins stand out?
A lot of bands do have that metalcore vibe, but when it comes to metal… like I love Cannibal Corpse, but I like new Cannibal Corpse because it sounds polished. And Within the Ruins are a very polished band live, and on record. So a lot of it has to do with the fact that it just sounds so awesome. I grew up on bands like At the Gates, and I’m a huge Unearth fan, so metalcore is definitely in my roots. But when I hear some of those old mixes, they kind of sound like crap. So Within the Ruins came out and they did it so well on this album, and as far as I’m concerned there’s no one out there that does it as well as them right now.
Any particular songs you would recommend from the album?
I would say the song “Gods Amongst Men” would be the song to give you the jump-start to get into the band. I also really like the instrumental song, “Enigma,” because it’s really nice to hear instrumentals done really well. Joe has a really interesting style of playing and his guitar tones are really cool.
Within the Ruins‘ Phenomena is available via E1 Music.
Oceano‘s Ascendants is out March 23 on Earache Records.
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