Emma Ruth Rundle‘s These Killing Times is a welcome return, even if struggles to reach the highs of her past.
Release date: September 18, 2026 | Sargent House Records | Bandcamp | Instagram
Man, reviewing artists you love can be hard. It’s like you’re obliged to do them justice in a new release and really pull the layers out of all it has to offer. But sometimes, you’re met with the harsh reality that maybe there’s not really that many layers to pull out after all. That’s how I felt writing about These Killing Times.
Some of Emma Ruth Rundle‘s music is very, very dear to me. Very few artists manage to evoke visceral emotions as well as she does, with Some Heavy Ocean and specially Marked for Death being amongst my all time favorites. While I also love Engine of Hell for what it is, it can sometimes be a bit too much in the emotional department for me. That’s why I was really excited when I saw Emma was apparently going back to some of her traditional, grungy, introspective, sad rock with These Killing Times.
The first single, “Powerless”, which I had the pleasure to catch a live premiere of some months ago, is an instant reminder of Emma doing what she does best: powerful, emotionally charged music that speaks to you on a deeper level. It’s a great song and features a lot of what I believe some of the rest of the album is kind of lacking. In fact, I think the album’s singles are perhaps the strongest songs here, which is a rather uncommon occurrence.
As the album went on and I spent more time with it, I realized These Killing Times is much less emotionally charged than its predecessors, at least in the way you’d expect her music to go. It’s more of a straightforward rock album than her previous material and features some very good tunes, but I can’t help but feel it’s missing some of that cathartic oompth that made her music really stand out.
That’s not to say there’s not some great songs to be found here – “Catherine Wheel” is a straight up classic grunge banger with some strong hooks, riffs and vocal melodies. “Enough” is also a huge standout, with its strong acoustic leads culminating in a powerful electric burst. “God’s Picture” is also a grower, with great buildup and some very strong instrumentation. Some of the other songs like “Anvil” and “Don’t Delay Heaven” didn’t gel with me that much, though – they’re missing that special something for me.
The album closes on a particularly sour note with “Human Kindness” – a song that feels like it demands a strong catharsis, and while it has some very good moments, I unfortunately don’t think it delivers on what it builds upon that well.
While it certainly delivers more Emma Ruth Rundle, which is always special, I can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed by These Killing Times. It’s a good record, but it’s very uneven and is sorely missing some of the raw power and intensity she’s delivered time and time again. It’s still some of the best grungy/alt rock out there, so I’ll remain revisiting These Killing Times and perhaps some of its ideas will resonate better with me as time goes on. Perhaps my expectations got the better of me this time, but for now, I can’t help but feel like Emma Ruth Rundle could’ve done more than this.
