Wednesday 9 December 2020

Ritual Earth - MMXX (Album Review)


Release date: September 1st 2020. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD 

MMXX – Tracklisting

1.Solar Ecstasy 04:49
2.Escape Velocity 07:16
3.Free From My Vessel 04:45
4.Reprisal / Nebulas Diabolos 09:16
5.I am Dreadnaught 05:58
6.Distress Signal 04:13
7.Ascension Dimension 12:30

Members

George Chamberlin - Vocals 
Steve Mensick - Guitars
Chris Scott - Bass
Chris Turek - Drums

Review

MMXX is the new full length album from Heavy Psychedelic Spaced Out Doom Rockers – Ritual Earth. The album was released during my brief hiatus from the blog back in September 2020 and I’ve just finding the time to review this record.

The album sees Ritual Earth deliver an almost Post-Apocalyptic based album which is built around a concept of sorts with the following description:

DATE: 1000 YRS OLIVER AD
LOCATION: EARTH
Lost...Forgotten...Changed...Stop Exploring Stars...
Trust Me... I Will Protect Man...

This allows the band to run riot with their imaginations and build up a a wild style of Psychedelic Doom, Prog Rock, Space Rock intertwined with different blends of Atmospheric Stoner Rock/Metal. The album does have a certain 70’s Prog Rock and Classic Hard Rock feel to it with the spacier elements building upto a heavier style of music than I initially expected.

There’s some deep love and admiration for bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple (especially with the vocals) and I would say Soundgarden upto a point when the band opt for a more grungier style of delivery on the earlier and later stages of the record.

There’s a lot to digest here with this album and deserves at least a few listens to fully understand what’s going on with the overall themes and story the band have written for this album. The music is excellent and perhaps slightly stronger than the lyrics contained here but even the lyrics are of a high quality as well.

I will admit that some creative ideas and choices on this album that don’t really work but that’s few and far between for a cool and progressive Rock/Metal album such as this.

The standout songs for myself are: Solar Ecstasy, Escape Velocity, Reprisal/Nebulas Diabolos and the epic last song Ascension Dimension where everything comes together for Ritual Earth and shows the listener this band is made up of highly talented individuals who actually enjoy what they’re doing on this record and who are we to disagree.

Overall, MMXX is a beautifully played and dynamically release that offers something different to the recent Psychedelic Doom albums currently out there.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp