THE YARDBIRDS, PAGE/CLAPTON/BECK, CREAM, ZEPPELIN, SABBATH,
HEEP, QUEEN, UFO, PRIEST....ARMAGEDDON, LEAF HOUND, GROUNDHOGS, STRAY, ATOMIC
ROOSTER....MAIDEN, SAXON, WITCHFINDER GENERAL, VENOM, SATANA...SKYCLAD,
SOLSTICE, PAGAN ALTAR, ORANGE GOBLIN...
Do see what I’m getting at? Do you catch my drift?? DO YOU
FUCKING HEAR ME?!?!?? So...when I hear that a band is from England, I do
tend to pay attention. And, when said band is on the Ripple label, that
attention is rapt. Enter from stage left the eponymous debut album from RITUAL
KING.
RITUAL KING is a 3-piece unit from Manchester, a city about 200 miles NW of
London but apparently right in the epicenter of heavy. You can call me Ray
& you can call me Jay, but you doesn’t has to call these guys stoner rock
because they’re a lot more than that on this 7-track opus.
Sure, there’s the plundering, striding riffs that populate
tracks like opener “Valleys.” But then there’s the moment 2:46 into this
7-minute mammoth where Gareth Hodges (drums) & Daniel Godwin (bass) slam
the old Hurst shifter into high and all the sudden we’re having delightful
aural visions of a metallic Hawkwind. You know, one of those space-drive
rhythms that set the controls for the heart of Dave Brock’s brain. Drifting
over top of this come almost pastoral harmony vocals of a nearly Wishbone Ash
bent. Then Jordan Leppitt strings seething streamers of lead guitar lava all
over it and produces a jam-personified in this very first track.
It’s a theme that reoccurs throughout this album, the shortest
track of which is instrumental “602” that clocks in at 5:03. Still, the longest
cut only ranges out to 7:19 (I know, so many numbers!) so nothing overstays
it’s welcome and speaks very nicely to RITUAL KING’s ability to construct songs
that are both memorable and exploratory. To this end, other standout moments
include the Iommi/“Warning”-like jazzy lines in “No Compromise” and Leppitt’s
inclusion of distinctly “metal” muted picking into the heavy psych journey of
“Dead Roads.”
In all, it’s easy to see just a few listens in that RITUAL
KING is a trio that’s got both the fire of youth and the depth of creativity in
equal measure. Throw in a lot of talent, a thick, beefy production value and as
PINK FLOYD told us once upon a “Time,” you’ve got what can only be the English
way.
-Ray Dorsey
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