Formed in 1999 by members of Goatwhore and a few like minded nihilists, Ritual Killer was conceived with the aim of being a singularly savage US black metal force. Their debut album (and only release aside from this follow-up) ‘Upon the Threshold of Hell’ exhibited traces of the genre’s legends – from Hellhammer to Darkthrone and Bathory to Beherit. After years of dormancy, and as a response to the genre bending antics of contemporary US black metal acts, the band has once again donned its spikes in order to prove that the US can churn out undiluted extremity with the best of them.
In line with their orthodox intent, ‘Bury the Earth, Bury the Sky’ initiates with demonic backward whispers before a hail of riffs buzzing like static and blast-beats assault the listener. Arguably the aspect which sticks out most – and the one which I find most impressive overall – is the demented vocalisation, which during the opener gets deeper and more growled, even incorporating some Gorgoroth-like operatics along the way. That said, there are equally some musical touches which make an impression early on – from the Revenge guitar sweeps and mechanical edge of ‘As the Vulture Feeds’ to the riffs on ‘Feral Eyes’ which hurl you back and forth as if trapped in the midst of a blood-crazed mob. The experience is generally characterised by an atmosphere of violence which diverts now and again to other realms, usually with great impact.
As an example of the above, ‘Dogs, Wolves and Carrion Fowl’ contains an immense tempo shift and solo around the two-minute mark yet the rest of the track, which blasts and blisters, is pretty standard black metal fare. In fact it’s fair to say that numerous of the blast/punkish riff sections appear interchangeable from track to track as we delve further in. Even the more impressive likes of ‘Cuuntius’ – for all its vocal eccentricity, slow dominant riffs and effective, if somewhat nasty sound effects – hinges on swathes of generic rage. And that’s really the way it goes until the record reaches its conclusion. What must be stressed however is that when the band does change tack, it is often very good. The double bass heavy section on ‘Crippling Beast’ is testament to this fact, as are the alternately slow and tormenting riffs of closer ‘Passing of Creation’.
Overall then I find ‘Exterminance’ to be a slightly frustrating listen. As much as there are elements that I love, too many of the blasting/riffing combinations come across as merely generic but also less impacting or crushing than might have been expected. To use that byword from extremity mentioned earlier, there is nothing here to rival the likes of Canada’s Revenge. Rather, Ritual Killer excels in its more creative excursions, and for those it’s worth…
(7/10 Jamie)
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