Ritual - Paper Skin (LP)

On Paper Skin, they play mature and intelligent new-school hardcore without any bravado, and they go out on a limb with their experiments. Riffs have become completely secondary here, superficial catchiness is sacrificed for the sake of atmosphere. The guitars, which at times sound atypical for the genre, are striking: instead of relying on excessive distortion, a pleasant crunch provides pressure and highlights the inserted chord breakdowns. "White Caskets" is one such song that thrives on these concise moments.

It's great how Ritual sometimes work with harmonies without forgetting the organic whole. They certainly don't follow well-trodden paths, even if they do take the opportunity to blast straight ahead in their most direct song, "Absolute Devotion." Instead, they follow it up with "This Shell Has Got A Soul Again," a broken R&B stomper that could easily pass as a Tom Waits B-side. Just like that. And the instrumental Distant Glance oscillates somewhere between noise, shoegaze and drone, but fits into the overall structure.

In general, Ritual have clearly put a lot of thought into their sound and tones: For a hardcore album, Paper Skin sounds remarkably good, as long as you're not into the overproduced pseudo-metal that sails under a false flag. Whether their old fans will join in remains to be seen. But if not, Ritual at least has nothing to accuse themselves of having done anything wrong.

Label: Reflections Records

Country: Netherlands

Media Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)
Sleeve Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)

Gatefold sleeve. Release Show Edtion #19/100