Nothingman, Age of Ruin’s new album, out on October 17 is a collection of 10 songs that cuts a path to the heart with harmony and angst that others would be naïve not to mimic. The band sacrificed blood and sweat for two years to expel Nothingman. Age of Ruin began the recording process in October of 2023, and after nine months of tracking on location in Richmond, VA, at the Bakery Studio, in Washington, DC, at Ivakota Studio, and at the Riff Dojo in Takoma Park, MD, (the record was produced by Mike Schleibaum of Darkest Hour), Nothingman was complete. This is the biggest, most richly woven tapestry from the band yet, and the time to unleash it is near.
It was a pleasure to chat with Daniel Ruin on the new album, read the Interview below and album details following it.
Keith: Greetings from Metalheads Forever Magazine, I’m Keith, How are you today?
Daniel Ruin: Hi Keith I’m Daniel. Doing well, thank you.
Keith: Your 5th Studio album “Nothingman” came out on October 17. Would you like to tell me about the songwriting process and the making of the album?
Daniel Ruin: We wrote these songs over a few years drawing from riffs new and old; some were in the archives for years. In fact, Bleed for Better Days was a track on “The Longest Winter’s Woes” that we decided to dust and polish off. We approached this record with the idea of focusing on elements of music we love. Dynamics like you’d find in bands like Nirvana or the Pixies, melody that draws from modes and is fluid in key and tempo.
Logistically, it was entirely new to us. We are actually in a long distance relationship, so we’ve really leaned hard into technology to help us collaborate. I’m a trained archivist, so drawing from that skill I’ve set up a meticulously organized digital file share in the cloud. We have nearly 7 TB of data in the Age of Ruin root, which is indexed by theme, media, and date. We currently use Google Drive, but any platform would work. We’re still using it as a collaborative space to save and share lyrics, riff demos, full band demos, show photos and video, set lists, guitar tabs, and more. We also use collaborative cloud pro tools sessions for writing and sharing ideas from our individual studios. It’s not without its challenges but when it works it’s super cool.
We’re pretty much always running cameras to keep documenting our journey. All of the video data is organized there too. Since we did this every time we were in the studio working on Nothingman, we’ve started releasing some of the behind the scenes footage and will be providing commentary as we share select footage.
Keith: Does “Nothingman” have a concept or a theme it was based on?
Daniel Ruin: The Nothingman theme developed eventually, but we did know we wanted to write it as an album, meaning we contemplated what each side of an album would consist of. We intentionally created balance between both sides. We did stick with the jungle aesthetic once we found the cover art we wanted to use.
Keith: An awesome cover artwork goes behind the album, would you like to share a few details on the making and the story behind it?
Daniel Ruin: This one is less of a story than a coincidence. After we brought Nothingman in as a song on the album, we quickly realized it would be the title track. Not long after that I was scrolling instagram and saw a post by an artist I follow named Zack Dunn of this painting he titled “The Forest Mother.” I pulled up my texts as fast as I could to alert the band to check it out. We knew immediately this would be a great cover for Nothingman. I bought the painting within 10 minutes of seeing it. I love it. Zack has a really cool style in his art that is distinct. The whisper gives her an element of secrecy we enjoy.
Keith: 10 amazing songs great songwriting and amazing musicianship, a genre breaking album, it’s heavy, it’s brutal, with amazing melodies and each band member has delivered an extraordinary work on this album, how do you guys feel about the outcome of Nothingman?
Daniel Ruin: We have zero regrets. This record really is the culmination of all of our heart, attention to detail, and a ton of hard work. We wrote, analyzed, rewrote, recorded, and reworked the songs to perfection and I think it shows in the quality of the production. We are very proud.
Keith: Are there any plans on the day of the release?
Daniel Ruin: Yeah! We set up a show at a brewery in the small town most of us live in. Sinistral Brewing is situated right next to the train tracks at the old railroad junction in historic Manassas, Virginia. We invited some of our friends’ bands to play, Skin Testament and Cursor. They are both killer bands that your readers would enjoy. Skin Testament is in the melodeath portion of the venn diagram with Age of Ruin, whereas Cursor would fit more in the post-hardcore cross section. Go check out their music!
Keith: Would you like to share the touring details for the end of the year and early 2026?
Daniel Ruin: We have some dates planned in the northeast starting in Pittsburgh in mid November. We are working on dates in 2026 to include Puerto Rico initially.
Keith: Music Videos : Promise Me, The Ghost We Carry, Heavy Is The Crown has been out, would you like to tell me about the making of the videos?
Daniel Ruin: We just launched a video for The Traveler on the day the album dropped. This one was shot on a low budget, but it turned out really cool. Age of Ruin will use pyrotechnics any chance we can get! Promise me was a compilation of a lot of footage from shows, rehearsals, and studio footage we have compiled over the three years we worked on this record.
We shot the other two in one day, which I wouldn’t recommend. It was a long exhausting day and if we weren’t really close friends I could see things going downhill fast. Our video team is outstanding though, and we stayed productive and positive the whole time. Those two are Heavy is the Crown, and The Ghosts We Carry.
Keith: Plans for more music Videos?
Daniel Ruin: We are planning to release a few more videos for the remaining songs on the record, but haven’t set a release schedule yet. Now that we have the album launch behind us we have more time and energy to focus on those. Lets just say your readers would have good odds betting on a video for Nothingman sometime in early 2026…
Keith: Are there any merchandise plans for the fans?
Daniel Ruin: We have color vinyl of the record and will be releasing cds releasingin November at the start of our tour. We’ve added two new T-shirt designs with the Heavy is the Crown and Nothingman art. Hoodies are being printed soon too.
Keith: Founded in 1998 with five full length albums with close to 28 years of music, how has the road been so far?
Daniel Ruin: It’s hard to believe lol. We’ve experienced a lot but along the way we’ve felt like we still have gas in the tank and more we want to accomplish together. The challenge of writing and performing interesting melodies and pushing our technique to a higher plateau gives us energy. I’m grateful to have done all of it with such talented musicians.
Keith: Would you like to share some highlights for the band?
Daniel Ruin: It’s difficult to top the high of releasing this new record! The reception thus far has been great. We are pumped for our Nothingman CD (physical) release show coming up on November 22 in Clearfield, PA, with two other bands, Onion, and Assault on 5th both CDs at that show too.
Keith: Finally any message for the fans?
Daniel Ruin: Be excellent to each other.
Track Listing:
1. The Fixation
2. Heavy is the Crown
3. Lost in Shadows
4. The Traveler
5. Nothingman
6. An Awakening
7. The Ghosts We Carry*
8. Promise Me*
9. Bleed for Better Days
10. Lovesong
Photo Credit: Jason Worcester
Line-up:
Benjamin Swan – vocals
Christopher Fleming – bass
Daniel Fleming – guitar
Hendrik Osinga – drums
Casey Flanagan – guitar
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