Kvarn

Kvarn is the fifth full length album by deathcore/nintendo outfit Ryuga. It was released on October 26, 2010 through Century Media Records. Unlike previous releases, it goes into a spastic blending of genres incorporating the likes of hardcore, hip-hop, pornogrind, and indie rock and explores freely into the more modern, futuristic things of life. The album cover was confirmed on August 8, 2010, and depicts an outer area of a mill, taken by "3amfromkyoto" (a user from Flickr). On August 14, the cover was deconfirmed with the actual cover being a futuristic city depiction taken by DeviantART user !blackangel559. It is the first album to include Eric Wayson on drums, Shoji Yashimoro on keyboards, and marks the return of additional guitarist Mark Dresich (who is now lead guitarist).

Style
Frontman Jude Lizowski had explained that he and his band were looking for a much newer, yet insane image. Basically, the album's themes depict oddities such as the fall of modern life, the future of technology, mutilation, and killing everybody in the past. Furthermore, Ryuga had quickly gotten out of the deathcore scene and began experimenting with melodic death metal, mathcore, and made much more progressive metal influences on this album. Jude has also explained that Kvarn is a concept album that shows what the future will accomplish and what the present and past have not. As to the new-improved lineup, The release will also be dedicated to all of the former members of Ryuga, and the songs themselves on which will be heard during the fourth season of A Farce of Ryuga (which premiered February 4, 2011 on MTV2). In general, Ryuga tend to have their songs on this album influenced by the likes of Mastodon, Motionless Battle, and Darkest Hour. Other musicians have guest appearances on Kvarn (the most to date) including Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, Fred Durst, Daft Punk, ex-Dr. Acula vocalist Bert Vegas, and HORSE The Band members Nathan Winneke and David Isen. "We hope that Kvarn will be our official breakthrough album and everything we have planned for the future will be done and good... But more importantly, continue listening to our kickass music and watch the season premiere of A Farce of Ryuga IV Valentine's Day 2011."


 * Jonesy Garcia, Ryuga

Track Listing
1. "Intro: Welcome to the New Future" - 1:05

2. "One Side Zero" - 4:07

3. "If I'm Desperate, Will Venus Die?" - 5:58: Ft. Fred Durst

4. "Cold Nightmare" - 3:14: Ft. Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars, Fred Durst, and Bert Vegas (ex-Dr. Acula)

5. "The Night that Stood Still..." - 9:11: Ft. Tommy Rogers, Paul Waggoner, and Dan Briggs of Between the Buried and Me

6. "City of the Future" - 4:40

7. "Totgeburt in Rohrenjeans (german for Stillbirth in Tightpants)" - 6:01: Ft. Bubblegum Octopus

8. "The Baron" - 11:08: Ft. Nathan Winneke and David Isen of Horse the Band

9. "Interlude" - 2:02

10. "Death-Masked Apathy" - 16:34: Ft. Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage

11. "The Baron II: My Final Fiasco" - 10:45: Ft. Daft Punk

12. "Seeing With Your Eyes Closed (God Saviour)" - 3:35

13. "Supreme Laser Gun" - 7:22: Ft. Sabrepulse, Insert Disc, and Chino Moreno of Deftones

14. "Flawless Constructions of a Widower" - 3:44

15. "Outro: The End of Life" - 00:49

Additional Information
Genre: Brutal Death Metal, Mathcore, 8-Bit, Progressive Metal, Nintendocore Release: October 26, 2010 (USA), November 2, 2010 (EU), November 16, 2010 (JPN & CAN)

Producer: Fred Durst, Dave Fridmann, Steve Evetts.

Label: Century Media Records

Engineering: Ryuga

Mixing: Devin Townsend

Mastering: Brendan O'Brien

Photography: !blackangel559

Illustrations: Chad Lenjer

Other Credits

 * Guest Vocals on Tracks #3 and #4: Fred Durst, Jared Leto, Bert Vegas (Ex-Dr. Acula)
 * Additional guitars on Track #5: Paul Waggoner and Dan Briggs (BTBAM)


 * Guest Vocals on Track #5: Tommy Rogers (BTBAM)


 * Guest Vocals on Track #7: Matt Morden (Bubblegum Octopus)


 * Additional guitars on Track #8: David Isen (HORSE The Band)


 * Guest Vocals on Track #8: Nathan Winneke (HORSE The Band)


 * Guest Vocals on Track #10: Howard Jones (Killswitch Engage)


 * Additional appearance on Track #11: Daft Punk


 * Additional appearances on Track #13: Sabrepulse and Insert Disc


 * Guest Vocals on Track #13: Chino Moreno (Deftones)

Reception
Reviews for Kvarn have been generally favorable. Sputnikmusic gave the album a 4.2 rating, stating that the band has "matured and kept their graphic look". They also gave the band props on the album's lyricals themes and artwork (the inside of the booklet being the most talked about). Terrorizer liked the album as well, comparing it to Motionless Battle's The Universe Defiant and Here Comes The Krakken's self-titled album. More importantly, the magazine praised Ryuga's music video for "One Side Zero" describing it as "a masterpiece with too much insanity and gore, and also broken machines". Despite a majority of positive feedback, there has been some criticism given to this album; for instance, a smaller portion of Ryuga's fanbase thought that the songs were bland and repetitive. Therefore, they insisted that the band keep its roots from the previous album. Other fans just accepted how Ryuga's new musical direction at least gave them some thought after their earlier material (including the acclaimed Coagulation).