Since 2020, the Philly band Poison Ruïn has built their own musical world, one where anthemic post-punk and metal collide with the mysterious world of dungeon synth. Picture a crust punk wearing chainmail and playing Dungeons and Dragons. The band started as a solo project of vocalist and guitarist Mac Kennedy before ballooning into a full rock unit, so we hit up Kennedy to ask about some of the Best Songs for hyper-specific situations. Read the article below; the forthcoming Poison Ruïn album, Hymns From The Hills, comes out on April 3rd on Relapse Records.

Best song to listen to on the bus or subway?

“Smile” by The Fall

Riding the trolley into downtown to work, social function, etc. Pulled from the comfort and reveries of home, staring at the world and people around you bug-eyed.

Best song by a band you’ve gone on tour with?

“Au Bord Du Gouffre” by Beton Arme

The chorus hits and then Dan starts delivering the second chorus overtop of the chorus halfway through the chorus. Amazing.

Best song that makes you feel Philly pride?

“Philadelphia 76ers Win Song (Here Come the Sixers)” by Fresh Aire

A little on the nose maybe but c'mon!

Best song by a dungeon synth artist to play to someone who has never heard dungeon synth?

“In Hills of Shadow Bleak and Cold” by Thangorodrim

Hearing this record and discovering it was contemporary was a crucial moment for me in the realization of a new wave of ds artists.

Best song to fist pump to?

“String X” by Cyanide

Maybe not the punk answer you’re fishing for but there’s not much else you CAN physically do at BPMs like this. Freaked out crazy guy stuff.

Best song for lying in bed and doing nothing?

“Deep One Perfect Morning” by Jesus & Mary Chain

Best song by a d-beat artist?

“Warsystem” by Shitlickers

Warsystem Warsystem Warsystem Now.

Best song that kind of pisses you off but you still love?

“Hog Of The Forsaken” by Michael Hurley

There’s like three different recorded versions of this and they are all missing something the other ones have—I could describe the perfect version by playing them back to back but the fact it doesn’t exist definitely pisses me off.

Best song that was made before the 20th century?

Prelude in C# Minor by Rachmaninov 

Effortlessly swims, sweeps, and hammers through the full spectrum of dark or negative emotions with the nuance and dexterity of a living creature. Is a classical piece with a rhapsodic form but still feels like a “song” to me.

Best song you’ve heard this year?

“Rocky River Has Gotten So Weird” by Perverts Again

This came out in 2025 but it’s been under a year so I’m counting it. Lyrical masterpiece. The paranoid protagonist wanders through some local nature, is creeped out by a ‘psycho’ owl, and then stumbles across the possibly real, possibly imagined path of a mass murderer. And spin that fucking head.