01. From The Beast's Mouth
02. Apathy And Irony
03. Tidal Fire
04. Curtailer Of Conceit
05. A Scopic Radiance
06. Shapeless Ones
07. My Fall
08. Meat Trade Misery
09. Final Corridor
10. Paragon Of Inhumanity
11. Locked In Glitch
12. Ominous Reversal
13. Prodigious Blight
14. Vermin Burning
15. The Voice They Cannot Be
16. Below The Cold Void
17. Sharpen The Blade
18. Stifled And Dreaming
19. Erased From The Earthly Crust
20. The Dormant Ruin

After 14 years, Bent Sea are no longer a Dormant Ruin. Their full-length debut is finally here, and it's total nostalgic grindcore, just like it was in the good old days.

Bent Sea is a grindcore supertrio consisting of vocalist Sven De Caluwé (Aborted), guitarist/drummer Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth), and bassist Shane Embury (Napalm Death), who replaced temporary bassist Devin Townsend a year after their formation in 2011. Since their formation 14 years ago, the band had only managed to release 3 splits and a single EP titled Noistalgia (conveniently named, as it paid homage to the early days of grindcore), but finally they have managed to assemble a full-length debut with The Dormant Ruin.

The star-studded line-up would suggest they know a thing or two about grindcore. Embury, for starters, is a pioneer and icon of this genre, while De Caluwé is a seasoned death/grind vocalist, and Verbeuren is a highly talented and versatile musician who's dabbled in just about every extreme genre you can think of. In classic grindcore fashion, The Dormant Ruin has a runtime of only 32 minutes, despite featuring a whopping 20 explosively short tracks in total. By merging black, death, and industrial elements into the early foundations of grindcore, The Dormant Ruin continues right from where Noistalgia left off.

The guitar work covers a huge variety, spreading right across the extreme metal spectrum, from dissonance to groove, and from mid-tempo chugging to lightning-speed solos. The bone-crushing bass thunders its way through the mix to add an extreme level of density. The drumming is the key component driving the album forward, varying from rapid blasts and more complex pounding to slower, more stylish rhythms. The songs are short but varied, with dynamic an unpredictable rhythmic shifts; the tempo changes constantly, and the album even includes short atmospheric interludes to break up the otherwise unrelenting ferocity.

2025 has been a relatively quiet year for grindcore, with only a handful of bands releasing material that might be remembered when looking back, or that was the case before Bent Sea dropped this mighty bombshell. The Dormant Ruin is classic grindcore through and through, bringing dissonance, technicality, brutality, and even a hint of atmosphere to the table. It also manages to reignite the spark missing from the glory days, reminding us of a time when Napalm Death were at the very top of their game. This trio is well accustomed to this style of music, and that clearly shows through their off-the-chart level of musicianship and a tight-as-hell overall performance. Now let's just hope we don't have to wait another 14 years for the next release.

Performance:	9
Songwriting:	7
Originality:	7
Production:	8