Interview: Within the Ruins on the Emotions Behind ‘Phenomena II’

Progressive deathcore heroes Within the Ruins dropped their latest album, Phenomena II,  August 23 through MNRK Heavy. The record comes a decade after the original Phenomena, and we caught up with vocalist Steve Tinnon about the album.

“The writing process for Phenomena II was a bit different from our past albums,” he explains. “With the band’s 10-year anniversary of Phenomena approaching, I found inspiration in nostalgia and the opportunity to revisit the beloved characters. It helped get me away and gave me something to write for. I love comics and those characters and movies and stories in general, a lot, and so everybody hopped on board, and I just dove head-first into finding characters to write for.”

Tinnon took a unique approach to the lyrics, crafting them as “miniature character studies.” He says, “I tried to write it from most of them, from the perspective of the character, kind of really doing like little miniature character studies on on each of them. Because, you know, even even in the even in the comics and the movies and all of it, they’re all still humanized in some way, and they all have their own struggles. None of them are perfect. I mean, even our track ‘The Last Son,’ is about Superman, but even he has flaws. As powerful as he is, he still has things he’s got gone through.This focus on relatability allows listeners to connect with the characters, even those unfamiliar with the comic universe.

So for each of these, I kind of tried to take a lot of the relatable aspects of, like, their origin story what kind of made them turn into what they are. I did try to pick characters where you could kind of sympathize with what, what they’ve been through, through and and if there’s a way to, even if you’re not a fan of comics, still kind of listen to the lyrics from a different perspective and pick out stuff that’s still relatable. There’s a couple concepts that are a little more out there, but I still tried to kind of package each of them into, like, here’s what I interpret is going on here; here’s where this character is coming from, for me. I tried to make them relatable in some ways.”

He also explains that it was important for this record to feel authentic, not to just stick to the themes he is used to writing about, now that he’s in a more positive headspace than he was in the past.

“So I didn’t want to fake some emotions and have and I just wasn’t sure what to write about. And then one day in the group text, I just through out Phenomena II to see what happened. At first it got brushed off, but then we realized it was coming up on the 10th anniversary of the album, and it kind of stuck.

“We’re living in an area of nostalgia right now,” he continues. “So everyone is all about bringing back the past a little, in a cool way, and I always liked the original Phenomena before I was in the band. For me, it was a ton of fun to go in and put my spin on the new one.

Going back and forth from Massachusetts to Texas, as the band is based in both places, they are no stranger to making it work and keeping busy. Within The Ruins have been keeping busy on the road, and they plan to play even more shows in 2025. They’re also going to keep writing.

“I have a vague idea in my head of what I want the next album to be,” Tinnon says. He emphasizes his desire for a cohesive package and hints at a “big picture” vision. Whether it’s a continuation of the current theme or a complete departure, fans can expect a well-crafted and unique listening experience.”

Get the album here.