When I look at the overwhelming numbers of new albums we get offered to review every week, I can imagine that a metal fan doesn’t know where to start or where to spend some money on. We have to skip a lot of reviews, just because we have no time to review them due to our regular jobs. A metal fan needs to identify the culprits and a review should help them out. I try to seperate the wheat from the chaff, but being a fan of the hard music that isn’t always easy, but I try.
Take for example this new album of Kill Ritual with fine heavy metal/hard rock music, a lot of melody, a lot of variety and virtuose guitar parts. On top of that, the songs are also well written and the production of Andy LaRoque sounds like a clock. One thing however spoils it for me and that is the new singer David Reed. I don’t know where head chief Steven Rice (ex-Imagika) found this man, but he sure needs to work on his singing. He personally messes up some fine songs. He has a rather dull and monotanous voice and on top of that he sings false. Especially in the song “Karma Machine” it is hopeless, his wining voice sometimes makes me want to cry as well. Is everything he does bad then? No, his clean singing in a softer part in the song “The Key”, doesn’t sound bad at all and in the closing track “Camera’s Eye”, his singing sounds like Zak Stevens and sees to it that the band sounds a bit like Circle II Circle. Such a shame that an album with good music just doesn’t succeed because of a so so singer.
But like I said, I need to select and reward best practices.
Tracklist:
01. Just A Cut
02. Rise
03. The Enemy Inside
04. The Key
05. Karma Machine
06. My Green Room
07. Kundalini
08. Land Of the Dead
09. Camera’s Eye
Playing time: 48:00
Release date: September 18th, 2015
Label: Scarlet Records
Website: www.killritual.com
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