May 2019 saw Tesseract's s lead vocalist and songwriter release his debut solo album Castles, his first foray into a more pop rock electronic sound.
Ruins sees Tompkins rework Castles. The lyrical and conceptual side still represents the same ideas as but with more aggression musically, showcasing a truer and darker tone. With the new version being so different to Castles, it is essentially a completely new album.
Ruins was created by producer and friend Eddie Head (Hajis Kitchen) & also features guest artists and additional cocreators. Paul Ortiz (Chimpspanner) rewrote the music and acted as co-producer alongside Tompkins, and Plini plays guitar on opener Wounded Wings. First single The Gift features Trivium frontman and guitarist, Matt Heafy a friend of Tompkins. When Matt agreed to contribute to The Gift, Tompkins wrote the parts and Heafy recorded them from his home studio and live on Twitch.