Boneripper – Radiant In Ruin
Release Date: 26th June 2026
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Hardcore, Metalcore.
FFO: Hatebreed, Cancer Bats, Madball.
Review By: Ross Bowie
Northern Netherlands outfit Boneripper have wasted little time establishing themselves as a force in the metallic hardcore scene. Following their 2023 EP Vengeance & Forgiveness and 2024 debut World Ablaze, the five-piece return with their sophomore record Radiant in Ruin. It’s a record that stares unflinchingly at a world in decay: corruption, environmental collapse, social fracture, and the hypocrisy of power. The message is bleak, but the delivery is anything but passive.
Where World Ablaze leaned into metallic extremity, Radiant in Ruin pulls back just slightly on the death metal tendencies and leans harder into muscular, propulsive hardcore. The result is an album that wastes no time and wants to go and let loose at every possible opportunity.
From the jump, opener Oracle of Lies makes the band’s intentions crystal clear. The drums are an immediate highlight, with their power and drive while the vocals are direct and hooky utilising A Hatebreed-style gang vocal. The guitar riffs burst into the second verse looking to get you moving while the pace ramps up. Deeds Define follows with a commanding hi-hat and snare intro that builds into a riff that nods to metalcore without losing its hardcore backbone. The bass tone here is notably thick, and the simple-but-effective riff approach that defines much of this record is already in full effect. A well-placed change of pace toward the end keeps things from feeling one-dimensional. There’s a lot of straight hardcore in Boneripper’s makeup, and they wear that influence openly rather than trying to disguise it.
The album’s third track Damnation really lets a thrash sensibility sing, it’s steeped in gang vocals, it keeps things simple but effective, the speed keeps up the breakneck speed of the opening tracks the same can be said for Iron Veil which doesn’t even waste time with an intro as you’re thrown right in amongst the band’s chaos, it’s here when I realised this is the sort of band who would off at Outbreak Festival, a lot of the album’s work are concentrated bursts of energy that’s over before you’ve had time to catch your breath. It reinforces one of the album’s genuine strengths: Boneripper know how to write compact songs that don’t overstay their welcome.
As the album powers on, a lot of the riffs do start to feel similar. That’s not to downplay how fun and effective they are, and they really keep the heaviness dialled up, but if variation is what you’re after, then Boneripper might not be the band for you. They have a pool of ideas that they pull from, and rearrange them in different but effective packages, which lends itself nicely to a lot of the shorter run times, but you can tell they are competent players, and it’s hard not to feel like they have somewhat limited themselves trying to remain in a hardcore framework rather than exploring their ideas to their full potential. The instrumental track Convective Outloo is a good example of this, as it’s short but is full of melody and atmosphere that is otherwise completely missing from the rest of the album. It feels like a scene setter that never really pays off. It’s an interesting idea that feels somewhat abandoned and could have played a part in the crafting of the songs and feels like a missed opportunity.
This feeling also applies to the album’s closing remark Radiant In Ruin, it opens with a video game style voice over that was taking me back to my countless late nights on Halo which have appeared throughout different moments in the album but struggles to deliver the climactic weight an album closer demands. For a record this driven and purposeful in its themes, the ending feels like it arrives rather than lands.
Radiant in Ruin is a confident, hard-hitting sophomore effort from a band that knows exactly what they are and plays to those strengths without apology. The drumming is excellent throughout, the gang vocal work is a consistent highlight, and when Boneripper find a groove, they lock into it with real conviction. What holds the record back is a degree of sameness, more lead guitar work and greater variety in the song structures across the album’s 12 tracks would elevate the experience considerably.
(3 / 5)
