RITUAL - The Summoning Digipack CD

Limited Edition of 500 copies.

This is a band from the US, one of many beginning bands in the up rise of USBM at the time, who is often left in the dust. Ritual suffered from poor early days, mistaken for the typical “raw black metal” that got no recognition whatsoever. However, around the year of 1995, the band had released their debut album, “In The Forests”. Claimed to be a classic in the underground black metal scene, I checked it out finally.

Classic, indeed. The first two songs can compared to an earlier Pagan corpse-painted Behemoth album, “…And The Forests Dream Eternally”, but the production seems to be a bit clearer and distorted, and the vocals are even better. Groovy, catchy, and dark all while keeping the typical black metal sound, Ritual seems to be doing a good job at writing some great black metal. The songwriting is astounding; somewhat repetitive, but second guitars playing some with haunting, yet soothing, keyboard laden backings is often throughout this release. Not to say that’s a bad thing. The vocals here range from demonic death growls to piercing tortured shrieks, and vary often so it’s interesting and not so monotonous; something that a lot of black is infamously known for.