March 20, 2012 • Replenish Records
Welcome back to another edition of the All Sludge Metal All the Time Review Hour. Today's derivative, generic entry is Arizona band Rituals, performing the typical atmospheric sludge act I've seen time and again. Maybe I'm just desensitized to the better elements of one of my favorite genres, or maybe I'm just grumpy today, but to me this is nothing to write home about.
Expect some long post-rock-based buildups (half the song, in some cases) and huge, heavy, doom-laden riffing for the rest of it. Granted, it's something they do pretty well for what it's worth; the slow tempos and strained vocals create a very despairing atmosphere which works pretty well.
The main issue is that the album is just kind of boring. I'm not saying it's a bad album, but there's absolutely nothing unique going on and not a lot keeping things interesting or worth listening to. The riffs are very repetitive, and each song goes on far too long for its own good. There isn't anything unusual in terms of production—no unusual instrumentation, nothing outside the vocals-bass-drums-two-guitars paradigm—although the existing production is handled pretty well. It's just that there simply aren't any neat, new ideas being explored. And of course while it's possible to make a good album with old ideas, it still has to be interesting. And Rituals isn't.
On the other hand, I bet Rituals would put on a killer live show. This sounds like it'd be great in a small venue, the kind of place where this sort of massive sound does take you pretty far.
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