Chant De Ruins (Song Of Ruins) is a live album from Syndrome 81 and forms part of a series of such recordings, which also features Bleakness and Destruct, co-ordinated by Kick Rock Records.

The album captures Syndrome 81 at the aptly named Superbowl of Hardcore in Rennes in July 2022.  The ten-track set spans the band’s discography, including four tracks from the brilliant Prisons Imaginaires (Prison Imaginaries), which had been released just a couple of months earlier.

The sound quality is very good indeed – raw enough to convey the live essence of the band without compromising the identity of the songs themselves.  The rhythm guitar is lower in the mix, the rhythm section rather higher.  The band’s trademark smouldering melodies cut through with piercing clarity yet are invested with a certain brittleness.  The lead vocals remain powerfully impassioned, the backing vocals fizz with an authentically unfiltered energy.

The stand-out moments are, perhaps, the barnstorming opener Vivre Et Mourir (Live And Die) and the darkly rowdy Seul Contre Tous (Alone Against All).  The in between song chat in French adds further texture to a thoroughly atmospheric and engaging recording.