Ritual - Ritual (reissue)
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Wingspread |
| Genre | Progressive Rock |
Patrik Lundström
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 11 |
Patrik Lundström
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 61 Min. |
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Guitar
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| Label | Inside Out |
Fredrik Lindqvist
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Bass
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| Release | 26 Jan. 2004 (1995) |
Johan Nordgren
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Drums
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| Country | Sweden |
Jon Gamble
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Keyboards
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| Similar artists | Kaipa | ||
I first heard about the band Ritual when I got my hands on their selftitled debutalbum in 1995. To me it was a total unknown Swedish band on a total unknown French art-rock label. And didn't quite enjoy the music at that time and since no-one else neither seemed to know anything about this band, Ritual fell into oblivion for me. So when I now discovered that InsideOut has released it in remastered shape I found it wise to give it a second chance, and I can easily say that my taste has broadened and developed during the years.
To be honest I am not that familiar with old progressive music that came out in the seventies with bands like Yes, King Crimson and Kaipa and their symphonic and progressive rock, but after what I have come to understand the main influences hails from that time and bands as Ritual's music is very soft and with many progressive elements. And since I'm namedropping bands lets continue with Rush, one strong similarity that I find is with the bass, otherwise the similarities are few but with the start of the opening track Wingspread I can think of nothing else but of the same type of bass-lines that you can hear from the Canadian power-trio. Solitary Man is another track that holds the Rush type of bass as well as it has many layers with great melodies and at the same time with progressive rhythms and different paces in the music.
Apart from those influences another source seem to come from folk-music with an medieval structure, like the acoustic track The Way Of Things. The medieval theme occurs in more tracks as well and in Life Has Just Begun it is easy to imagine how it would sound if you would add some metal to it, it is almost as if it could have been done by Skyclad or perhaps Wuthering Heights instead, if there only had been just a little more weight.
Typhoon Decide is the track which I have the easiest to
take in, a midtempo track that simply floats on by with both great melody
and a really simple but nice refrain to listen to. That one is also
together with A Little More Like Me and Seasong For The Moominpappa
inspired from the tales about the Moomins. I don't know how well these
children stories about the Moominpappa with the rest of his family and
the Filiyjonks and all the other creatures are known outside of Sweden,
but I don't think there is noone in Sweden that hasn't read or seen
the different adventures written by Tove Jansson.
Fun to see where Ritual has found some of their lyrical inspiration
from, even if I for one hated them as a child but that is another story.
Vocalist Patrik can also be found on the two latest releases from earlier
mentioned progrockers Kaipa and he has also been competing for Sweden
in the Eurovision song contest with a boyband called Blond, don't remember
what year but have read that they ended up at fourteenth place.
Ritual also uses lots of funny instruments as: bouzouki, tin whistles,
mandolin, harmonica and jaws-harp, it works rather nicely and adds a
level to their music that sometime can be ultra-progressive with a tendency
towards jazz influences.
It is good or at least a decent album and it is fun to has rediscover
Ritual but it is not completely up my alley, it is very well done nothing
to say about that but I like it when there is more metal or hard rock
over progressive music like this. But if you are a fan of soft progressive
rock you will probably enjoy this album way more than what I do.
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Production
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Vocals
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Compositions
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8 |
7 |
5 |
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Summary
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6 chalices of 10 - Thomas |
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