3 out of 5

Label: Willowtip

Produced by: Chris Common (recorded and mixed)

You know, according to at least this review, ‘The End of Nothing,’ Rune’s only release, might be a classic.  But I don’t know.  Perhaps had I been more invested in the metal scene when this was released, in 2003, I’d recognize it as the supposed game-changer it was, instead of as the okay-but-nothing-special various -core album I heard, but, I was sort of into metal in 2003, and the first bands that come to mind when I listen to it – Converge, Cave In – were already kicking around at that point.  I would also like to offer one of my usual cynicalisms, which is that just because something introduces something new, it doesn’t mean it’s automatically great.  Rune might’ve been a
first for slamming together technical metal with sludge and grind and goth (and doing it without any clear lines between the styles), but they also lack that Something that might’ve pushed this out of the underground range into something more culty.  (Culty > underground, apparently).  The compositions are impressive but lack a clear attack, and the vocals show a similarly impressive range (growling range) but stick to lyrical norms and there are song titles like ‘Opium For My Soul.’  So – again, I feel like this is good stuff, but others – influences or followers – were a bit more defined or refined the approach thereafter.

And with the droning, mish-mashed nature of the bonus live tracks on the version I have (recorded in 2004), it’s possible producer Chris Common did a lot for shaping the disc into something as listenable as it is.  Because make no mistake, it is *very* listenable and, as mentioned, impressive when you break it down.  Chris gives it that warm but crisp sound at which he excels, and maybe helped to dust up the compositions some, since nary a track drags as it flips between grind and sludge, excepting maybe the penultimate ‘Leaving Form,’ which sort of just wanders into the closing electronic ‘Ethereal Bleeding.’  There’s also a pleasing rawness to the recording, something you don’t get with more precise groups like Mastodon, where the drums and guitar will fall out of sync ever so slightly.  It sounds sloppy but it’s not; these are still very talented players.  If anything, it gives the songs a bit more immediacy.

I don’t know if The End of Nothing will be a disc I return to except as a curiosity; often during the listen I’d get other tracks stuck in my head. But it’s by no means shoddy or unworth a spin, and it’s very possible that something that never grabbed you about those other bands I mentioned will absolutely work for you with Rune, and maybe it’s a classic after all.