Southern Lord are extremely pleased to be reviving the music of Philadelphia's lost punk heroes, Ruin. Long considered a treasured local delicacy of the city's earlier hardcore scene, Ruin released two albums during their original run, 1984's He-Ho and 1986's Fiat Lux, both of which are combined for this release. Set against the backdrop of a city destroying itself in slow motion, Ruin were of a Philly generation that had to create it's own culture to push back against the despair and dead ends that they were confronted with. Their relative isolation is mirrored in the distance between Ruin's muscular, turbo-garage jams and the rest of US punk/HC at the time - the band got it across not through violent speed and mania, but with body-shaking chunks of simpler punk that refused to fit in with the wider template. Labelled from their early days as a Buddhist hardcore band (though not strictly the truth), Ruin are an object of intrigue that have rewarded the curious since 1982, but getting your hands on either out of print He-Ho or Fiat Lux has never been an easy task. A recorded output that totals 28 tracks (including a couple of significant Leonard Cohen covers that were praised by the artist himself) are available here including original scans of the detailed lyric sheets and inserts, as well as in depth retrospective notes that help to place Ruin in Philly and punk history.
01 Alter 02 Dinonysian 03 Freedom Has No Bounds 04 Baby Doll 05 He Ho Laudium 06 Alarm 07 Phenominal Expression 08 Love Dog 09 Master Song 10 Where's Fortune? 11 Play With Fire 12 Twilight
13 Proof 14 Rule Worshipper 15 Mouse
Disc 2
01 You 02 Make Believe 03 Hero 04 Famous Blue Raincoat 05 Life After Life 06 Proof 07 By The By 08 China 09 Taster 10 White Rabbit 11 Ruin... 12 The Great Divide 13 A Real Good Time