My first album review: Made Out of Babies "The Ruiner"

I recently listened to this album all the way through, and I'm still reeling from it. Julie Christmas' vocals go from creepily quiet to primal growling with alarming frequency and speed. As a whole, the album is a tour de force that makes just about everything else sound like Creed or Trapt. Although it is only 9 songs, we're talking about 42 minutes of thundering drums, guitars that will set your teeth on edge, and the greatest metal vocalist of our time. I hate picking a favorite song, but I have to go with "Stranger". At over 7 minutes, you won't hear this on the radio any time soon, but it perfectly encapsulates the strengths of this mighty band. No, Julie Christmas is not affiliated with Flyleaf, and while the superficial resemblance is there, Lacey Mosley does not even belong in the same conversation as Made Out of Babies' demented vocals. While Flyleaf is emo and annoyingly evangelical at points, Made Out of Babies is just pure, unapologetic, unrelenting metal with a laser-like focus on the music, wherever that may take them. And unlike Mosley of Flyleaf, there is nothing cute or remotely redeeming about Christmas' music. Her disturbing vocals belie a woman who, by all accounts, is very well-adjusted. If you're not the slightest bit freaked out, you're not listening. In the end, this was the album I didn't know I've wanted for years, the opus I once yearned for but had lost hope of finding. I have to give this a rating I almost don't believe in: 5 out of 5 stars. I say I almost don't believe in a 5-star rating or the "perfect 10", but this is as close to perfect as I've seen since "The Downward Spiral" by Nine Inch Nails.

Since I couldn't find "Stranger" on YouTube, this will have to do. Enjoy.

Grimace by MOoB