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Review: Ritual Howls- Rendered Armor


     Detroit trio Ritual Howls are an interesting band that creates filmic western industrial rock that feels right at home in a barren, post-apocalyptic world. Complete with twangy guitars, dance floor rhythms and a sense of dystopia and decay, their music sounds like the Motor City’s dying breath. On Rendered Armor, the band’s fourth release, vocalist/guitarist Paul Bancell, keyboardist/sampler Chris Samuels and bassist Ben Saginaw continue on their path with rolling, masterfully crafted arrangements and production, and with Detroit's untimely agonizing death, Rendered Armor is the soundtrack for it.

photo: floodmagazine.com

     To say that Ritual Howls have a bit of a basic blueprint to their music is an understatement. Sure, we’ve heard it all before, but the band has a true gift in their interpretation of what goth rock is thought to be. Bancell’s vocals are a cavernous baritone mixed with twangy, reverb-y Spaghetti Western-style guitars, Samuels’ synthesizers are glassy and elegant, and Saginaw’s machoistic, fuzzy bass lines punch you right in the face. Add some driving drum machine rhythms to the foundation and lyrics about the dark and occult and you have a most perfect blend of the unexpected. It sounds peculiar, but it’s not entirely unfamiliar.

     Ritual Howls have polished their sound, and Rendered Armor displays that confidence. “Devoured Decency” and “Thought Talk” have nuanced beats, lonesome guitars and battle wounded atmospheres. “Alone Together” has fragile sounding drums and needling synths, and all three tunes carry you to a place of familiarity. In previous releases, you can hear how the band was working up to find their true voice. Rendered Armor is the album they’ve been building up to.

photo: bandcamp.com

     Throughout the album, the band reveals itself and their obvious influences, but imitation need not apply. Ritual Howls hammer out haunting atmospheres uniquely their own, touching into unexpected sonic domain. Each track unravels with unsettling anticipation, and the trio’s delivery sounds more like an incantation at a black mass ritual. While Detroit is known more for its proto-punk, gangsta rap and electronic music, Ritual Howls is giving a bit more life into its scene with their genuinely original style and making us rethink a bit more uplifting, if not too far bleak, possibilities from a city with a hardened reputation. Of course, that hard rep only serves to give us some the best music we've had. The deeper one goes into Rendered Armor, the more it makes sense. What at first seems singular explodes into some of the most exciting danceable goth rock, and for those with a penchant for the dark and menacing, Rendered Armor will feed that particular appetite.

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