Band:	Menace Ruine
Album:	The Die Is Cast
Style:	Neofolk, Noise, Drone doom metal
Release date:	October 2008

01. One Too Many
02. This Place Of Power
03. The Die Is Cast
04. Surface Vessel
05. Dismantling
06. Utterly Destitute
07. The Bosom Of The Earth

Menace Ruine came, dropped two albums on us within the timespan of a few months, then went quiet again. Talk about guerilla tactics. Cult Of Ruins was harsh Black metal with noise and psychedelic effects, The Die Is Cast is... completely different. Well, there are a few binding elements once you know this is the same band, but if you're not aware of that you would never be able to connect the dots.

The Die Is Cast is, in short, droning Neofolk. Or something along those lines. It's a pretty strange album, to say the least. All Black metal influence has been dropped, what remains are majestic, solemn rhythms and shimmering droney psychedelics. The vocals match the instruments in their sparse appearances, sounding more like cold-hearted hymns to forgotten kings sung by blue-blooded maidens or elves... and I don't even play WoW. It's all very ethereal, untouchable and out-of-reachable. It slightly reminds me of Bloody Panda, but I must stress the word slightly, do not expect banshee-like screaming or actually any sort of screaming at all.

The Die Is Cast is an album characterized by hits and misses. "Utterly Destitute" features a crazy effect, a sound a tortured chimp would probably make. It's utilized very rhythmic and tribalistic, making it very cool. Other tracks are too 'regular' to be of any interest. Well, for a metalhead at least. This might get a lot more appreciation in the Avantgarde or Neofolk circles, though.

In conclusion, The Die Is Cast is an album that you have to hear for yourself. It's very un-metal, so it's impossible to say "If you like band x, you'll like this" simply because I don't know any bands that sound like this. Leaving all genre-tags behind, simply judging on what I hear, it's a solid seven.