Rituals [USA] †
RITUALS from Phoenix, AZ play a blend of slow, heavy, and pummeling riffs with a mixture of sonically versed melancholy melodies. This music comes from the stomach. There are 5 tracks on this release. As you listen, set aside expectation. Put away your thoughts about what you think the work should or does sound like. It is not about the definitive. It is the execution. The temporal and the fleeting. You need to understand: This is the moment, captured. Emotion plus volume. The songs are more concerned with texture, using a sense of sparse minimalism and repetition to achieve gradual, swelling impact. Tracks frequently stretch out to 7 min., taking their time to unfold and develop into epic soundscapes. The distorted guitars are augmented thundering drums as the harsh vocals paint images of nomadic cultures and cracked earth under a burning sky. In other words, can be a classic. Fans of brilliant, emotive, progressive music (hardcore, metal or otherwise) must have this one.
Records on Alerta
AA82. DeZafra Ridge / Rituals - Split LP
Leipzig, November 2011 – While the onset of winter approaches, DeZafra Ridge come along with a gloomy composition of down-tempo sludge strokes, rolling guitar riffs and expansive melodies, overlaid with strong shouting vocals.
The five-piece band from Leipzig, Germany, creates in this release a dark, cold atmosphere of both stillstand and progress, slicing heavy fog while delving into spiritual abyss. Inspired by ancient Mythology and contemporary culture as well as personal experience and introspection, the music accompanies the lyrics by a [homogeneous] fusion of different [varieties of] metal genres, in a monotonous, hypnotic manner.
Pressing Details
First Press (13.10.2012): 100x green, 100x grey + 300x black vinyl, 180gram Vinyl, gatefold cover
Tracklist:
A1. DeZafra Ridge - Simurgh
A2. DeZafra Ridge - Psychomachia
B1. Rituals – It Means Nothing
B2. Rituals – Learned Helplessness
AA77. Rituals - s/t LP
RITUALS from Phoenix, AZ play a blend of slow, heavy, and pummeling riffs with a mixture of sonically versed melancholy melodies. This music comes from the stomach. There are 5 tracks on this release. As you listen, set aside expectation. Put away your thoughts about what you think the work should or does sound like. It is not about the definitive. It is the execution. The temporal and the fleeting. You need to understand: This is the moment, captured. Emotion plus volume. The songs are more concerned with texture, using a sense of sparse minimalism and repetition to achieve gradual, swelling impact. Tracks frequently stretch out to 7 min., taking their time to unfold and develop into epic soundscapes. The distorted guitars are augmented thundering drums as the harsh vocals paint images of nomadic cultures and cracked earth under a burning sky. In other words, can be a classic. Fans of brilliant, emotive, progressive music (hardcore, metal or otherwise) must have this one.
Pressing Details
First Press (13.02.2012): 200x glow in the dark + 800x black vinyl, 180gram Vinyl, gatefold cover, A2 poster, LP-sized insert
Tracklist:
A1. Cognitive Dissonance
A2. Kubler-Ross Model
A3. Induced Compliance Paradigm
B1. Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy
B2. It Was All Very Sudden