Rune The End Of Nothing Rar How To Approach Reviewing

It did get good reviews but Rune broke up too soon to really receive the accolades and acclaim they deserved.

Legendary releases that, 20 years after their release, are still revered, still influential and still great listens.

Of course, most of those classics were released in the 80s and 90s: Reign in Blood, Master of Puppets, Altars of Madness, Left Hand Path and others, to this day, are considered true classics and will be in another 20 years.

These are albums that will stand the test of time and be looked back on (if not already) fondly and with hushed tones of reverence, influencing future generations of metal bands.

Albums that will elbow their way onto critics and fans top albums of all time lists in 2025.

And even though they had previously released some fine death metal and grind from the likes of Harakiri, Sadis Euphoria, Upheaval and Commit Suicide and even some more left field releases from Cephalic Carnage (the Halls of Amenti EP) and Year of Our Lord, it was Rune s debut, but alas sole album, that really put the label on the map as extreme musics top indie label.

The term ahead of its time gets thrown around a lot, but having only been reviewing for a mere 2 years, The End of Nothing literally took me by surprise.

Rune The End Of Nothing Rar How To Approach Reviewing

I recall, label owner Jason Tipton angrily emailing me several times, asking where the review was and why it was taking so long, and while I remember stalling, the truth was, I really didnt know how to approach reviewing such a forward thinking album.

I have always been super picky and only putting out stuff I really liked.

Plus, the split with Kalibas was out and we were working with Kalibas already so it was a natural fit.

That being said, when you give a band money to go into the studio and record you never know what you are going to get.

Sometimes you may be a bit disappointed and sometimes you may be blown away.

To this day many of our albums take many listens to fully sink in, and these albums always tend to be the best and this was no doubt true with the Rune album.

There were some heavy themes, and an overall aura to that record that took time to settle in for some.

From the opening strains of An Affinity you knew you simply were not getting another slab of brutish, tech brutality akin to much of the labels prior output.

While still loosely based on technical death metal and grindcore, even on the bands split with Kalibas the same year, the band (Dave Mann, Jimmy Magnuson, Rick Schutte, Kevin Gamble.

While often tumbling with caustic, atonal grids, riffs and busy tech death metal percussion, it was littered with tense, brooding moments of menacing clarity.

Rather than beat you over the head with brute force brutality, Rune, lurked, whispered and haunted with clinical, insanity inducing precision.

It really is one of the more evocative and complete tracks of the 00s and really elevated the album to something special.

The whole ending of that song was added after the song was finished, and gave the song the tortured feel we thought it was missing.

But the blasting, complex grindcore or death metal was never banal brutality, as there is a somber backdrop and even sense of sadness lurking in every riff, even the pinch harmonic blasts.

But on a label with a roster littered with near classic, superb releases from the likes of Gorod, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Defeated Sanity, Goatsblood, Watchmaker, Ulcerate, Arsis, Neuraxis (whose Truth Beyond could well be a future entry on this feature in my opinion), Rune s The End of Nothing stands out as a true, new classic.

Whether its bolstered by the finality of the bands lone release and not tainted by any further releases that could have been let downs or the sheer genre shattering creativity is to be debated.

But anyone who has not heard this album should head over to Willowtip and grab the special edition with a live set and couple of unreleased songs and experience one of the most striking albums of the last decade that deserves to be revered into the next decade.