The heaviness that Emma Ruth Rundle is able to achieve on her new record Engine of Hell is an elemental force that transcends any discussion around the volume of her music. Released on Sargent House, the record is a complete solo affair with all of it’s eight songs sung and performed by Rundle with either piano or acoustic guitar as accompaniment.
With her early beloved projects such as The Nocturnes, Red Sparowesand Marriages—as well as her fantastic solo records—Rundle had always found the balance between doom-infused metal, post-rock, and crystalline gothic folk. With this album, she has stripped away all of the pummeling drums and sludgy distortion of her previous work to make a record that is overwhelming with it’s honesty and intimacy.
On this episode of In Conversation, Rundle discusses the solo adventure of writing and recording Engine of Hell, how finding dance helped her as she now lives a life of sobriety, the joys and pitfalls of being the “solo female singer on metal bills,” her amazing collaborative albums with metal greats Thou and so much more.