The Ruse

The Ruse catapulted to the top of my bands to watch list when I spun their debut album "Invasion." Their U2 based influence caught my ear but I thought that maybe it was just the timing of the release until they continued to impress me with "Light In Motion," their follow-up that easily surpassed any expectations. Since then MTV took notice of them, nominated them for an award, put them on season 3 of The Hills, and featured over a dozen of their songs on the show. And now with their third studio album, "Midnight In The City," they have gone above and beyond expectations yet again. Album opener "Beautiful Is Gone" brings you into the album with its simple drumbeat and new wave tinged guitar riffs capturing you from the get go. From here the album just continues to pour out impressive song after impressive song. The Ruse isn't afraid to showcase their rock influences on tracks like "Come Here Come On," where it is the guitars that grab you, or tracks like "Crazy Girl," where the keyboard laden song takes you back to the 80's a bit with its heavy synth based style. However, it has always been when the Ruse turned things down that blew me away the most. Songs like "Time and Place" early on in the album and "Contagious" later on it are worth the price of admission as John Dauer is allowed to let his outstanding voice carry the songs a bit more and showcase the very well-crafted lyric.