Ruiner has been released four times, three times on CD and once on coloured 12" vinyl. Two of the CD releases, the original and Japanese edition, as well as the 12" vinyl, were released through Nitro Records in the same year. The Australian tour edition was released through Shock Records a year later during A Wilhelm Scream's first Australia tour, supporting Less Than Jake, hence the name. Despite the tour starting on October 31, 2006 and the album being sold whilst on the tour, the official release date was November 11. The track listing for the Nitro Records releases are identical, whilst the Australian tour edition contains a Ruiner session b-side entitled "Bodies and Suitcases". This song is by fault listed as "Bodies as Suitcases" on the album's track listing.
Working titles
Whilst working on this album, there are known to have been two working titles in use. The first being the title of the album, which was Walden 3 and the other being for the song "The Kids Can Eat a Bag of Dicks" which was originally titled "Ruiner".
In an interview with Racket Magazine, whilst on the tour of which the Australian tour edition was released, now ex-guitarist Christopher Levesque confirmed that the other guitarist, Trevor Reilly, sings the song "In Vino Veritas II". It was also revealed in the same interview that Bill Stevenson also participated with vocals and that Levesque did the piano parts in the song.
The "lemon" referenced in the opening line of "The King is Dead" represents autoerotic asphyxiation. It refers to the practice of masturbating with a noose around your neck, with a lemon slice in your mouth to wake you up when you pass out; a safety measure. The song also features the first guitar solo to appear in a song by A Wilhelm Scream.
Music
A Wilhelm Scream sought to expand their sound on the album while being tighter and more focused than they were on their debut albumMute Print. As a result the average track length is significantly longer and the songs themselves are considerably more progressive, with many time signature and key changes throughout. Ruiner is considered by fans to be the darkest album by A Wilhelm Scream of both musically and lyrically. Guitarist/vocalist Trevor Reilly states that this was because of significant infighting in the band at the time, conflict which ultimately led to the departure of bassist Jon Teves. Many of the album's songs cover interpersonal and introspective themes such as breakups, evaluating ones’ self worth, and mental illness.
