The Flatliners

About

Photo by: Riley Taylor @larvalungs Being a band for 20 years won’t just change you. It changes how you see the world, and your place in it. For long-running Toronto punk mainstays The Flatliners , a new record meant a new opportunity to examine the legacy they’ve inherited, and the one they’ll eventually pass on. It’s an imperfect one, but not without hope. “This record is us sitting in an uncomfortable moment, with the world around us falling apart, and then trying to learn from it,” says vocalist and guitarist Chris Cresswell. “No one needs to listen to us, but we want to try.” New Ruin is a shot of adrenaline from a band striking out at outdated institutions and ideologies via pointed lyrics and their heaviest songs to date, attacking each with a ferocity that will surprise even longtime fans. From the monstrously discordant hits that open the album through the de facto thesis statement of “Heirloom,” it’s clear that The Flatliners are angry in a way we’ve never heard before. At the same time, they’ve never been more in control. Produced by Cresswell along with the rest of the band, songs like "Performative Hours” and “Recoil” boil with livewire post-hardcore energy while “Souvenir” and “Big Strum” offer a more tightly coiled aggression that hints at the band’s anthemic punk past. Recorded at Toronto’s Noble Street Studios and Genesis Sound with longtime friend and engineer Matt Snell, the album sounds both open and immediate, the cumulative effect of two decades performing together. Says Cresswell of taking the reins, “At this point, if you're 20 years in and don't trust yourself…” Brought to life by what he calls a “dream” team with mixer Anton DeLost and mastering courtesy of the Blasting Room legend Jason Livermore, New Ruin deftly combines the pop ambition of Inviting Light with an aggression the band has only hinted at before, giving in to their grarliest tendencies. It’s an approach the songs - and the moment - demanded. Take “Heirloom.” “It's hate mail to