Thoughts of Ruin formed in early 2005 under the name Revenant. Started in Tipperary in Ireland by 2 friends with some guitars, a computer and some beer. Realizing they were onto something, a full band was recruited. After a few changes it was finally settled as Dave (iBurn, My Own Cult) and Colin (Zhora) on guitars, Brendan (Molde, Second Season Project) on vocals, Niall (Within) on drums and Martin on bass. A 6 track EP titled “Convictions” was quickly recorded and a heavy touring schedule put in place, with the band becoming known for their energetic and brutal live shows. High profile support slots with Coldwar (Ireland), Dagoba( France) and Necrophagist (Germany) quickly followed.
The band’s ambitions lead them to aim high in the summer of 2007. In reality, it was aiming higher than any Irish metal band had ever aimed for a debut album. The band flew to Cox in Hell studios in France to record their debut full length album with producer Charles Kallaghan Massabo.
Coming back to Ireland, renamed as Thoughts of Ruin with their debut album “Reclaim the Throne” ready to go. TOR enlisted the talent of Dennis Sibeijn (Job For a Cowboy, Chimaria) to make the album artwork. Never before had an Irish band brought this level of production and presentation quality. Thoughts of Ruin changed the way Irish metal bands present themselves and in turn changed the industry forever. The album would be officially released at the beginning of 2008 at a packed out launch event and tour in Ireland.
Extensive touring all over the region followed with headline slots at festivals like Siege of Limerick and HippyStock. Creative differences and line-up changes derailed the direction of the band as they sat down to make the difficult follow up album. Thoughts of Ruin broke up in 2009 with all the members going on to other projects.
The vocalist, Brendan, left Ireland to work in Asia but kept in contact with the Dave. Their shared love of music always brought them back to common ground. In 2018, when the 10 year anniversary of the album coming, the band talked once more to do a digital re-release of Reclaim the Throne. The interest and feedback from long waiting fans pushed the band to discuss future projects.
Finally, in September 2019, Brendan returned to Ireland for the first time since 2011 and the band agreed a jam session to see how things went. The addiction to music and the quality of playing was still there and TOR agreed to reform, with a slightly altered line-up. Brendan, Dave and Niall from the originally line up all returned, with Jimmy coming on board as bassist. The new stream lined TOR would more forward as a 4 piece . Brendan would be based in Asia and the band would record and plan everything remotely.
Despite Covid hitting as the band planned their new music, Thoughts of Ruin released their first new music in 12 years in December 2020, with the single “Anticitizen”. Critically and commercially successful, the band will follow this up in January with the next single “40 Hours of Pain”
The future is bright for Ireland’s mighty TOR.
Social media links
https://www.facebook.com/thoughtsofruin
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKFnyKdRSePgwZg0e2t-mpg
https://www.instagram.com/thoughtsofruinirl/
Streaming links
https://music.apple.com/artist/thoughts-of-ruin/1450890482