Into the Eyes of Bloodclotting

Into the Eyes of Bloodclotting is the debut studio album by deathcore outfit Ryuga, which was released on August 10, 2004 through Metal Blade Records. This is the only album to feature Mikal Wanton and Aaron Ferralio on guitar duties, respectively. Mikal Wanton died a year after this album, while Ferralio is currently active in other projects, such as the mathcore supergroup, Greenmist. This was also the only album for Ryuga to be a quartet-numbered band, whereas in both Night Spider (2007) and Coagulation (Ryuga album), they were quintets, and since Gatekeeper (Ryuga album), this Canadian group has been sextets.

Track listing
1. "Pillaged in Fire" - 5:28

2. "The Hammer of Anubius" - 5:04

3. "Blood Harvest" - 15:08

4. "Electricity Nova" - 2:14

5. "Bloodclotted Sea" - 4:41

Reception

 * Ultimate Guitar: 6.3 out of 10 stars ("Despite the rather generic breakdowns, Ryuga's debut is no slouch, as the group blends in their poor attempts at deathcore and make it pleasuring with 8-bit quality sounds and angered riffs that would attract even the simplest of metalheads. This album isn't for everyone, but still, a suitable debut, none the less")
 * Metal Hammer: 2 out of 10 stars ("To say the least, we've heard deathcore before, but this definitely isn't it... In fact, this is BULLSHIT. Even if this was their first effort, it seems these guys are trying too hard to blend in three different metal subgenres together in order to make something worth our time; we're bored out of our minds. This album only had one track we gave a crap about and that was the 15-minute opus known as "Blood Harvest")
 * Rolling Stone: 4 out of 5 stars ("Canadian deathcore has never been so wrong... And just like Despised Icon, this is truly a masterpiece of art. Our only gripe is that this album features only five tracks, and while they do synch well properly and are insanely beautiful, well... That's pretty much it. Overall, these guys might have a true future ahead of them")
 * Blabbermouth: 3.5 out of 10 stars ("Alas. This may have been a new band at the time, but it doesn't change the following statement: there's nothing good about this album aside from the idea of mixing deathcore elements with video game music. Luckily Ryuga have changed over the years... for better or worse")

Album information
Genre: Deathcore, Avantgarde Metal, Nintendo Metal.

Release: August 10, 2004 (USA), August 17, 2004 (EU)

Producer: Eric Rachel

Engineer: Eric Rachel, Ryuga

Recorded: October 19, 2003 - April 25, 2004.

Trivia

 * According to the band in an interview, all of the songs on this album are no longer played in live performances.
 * Compared to succeeding albums, ItEoB has gotten lower review scores not only for the little range in songs, but also for the fact that the sound quality is rather "muddy" and the sales of this CD were ultimately low. Because of this, both Ryuga and their fanbase seem to believe this album never existed.
 * The cover was designed by Dan Mumford; Brendon Small (the mastermind behind Ryuga) once said that the only thing salvageable about the debut album was its album artwork.