The Rite – Liturgy of the Black
Band: The Rite
Title: Liturgy of the Black
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Release date: 19 June 2020
Country: Denmark / Italy
Format: Digital promo
We should never underestimate an album for its cover art or a book for its cover because inside we can find a real gem. How many times will we have discarded good material just because a cover is pretty or ugly, but the good thing that we are seeing in recent times is the great product that many bands are obtaining in terms of artistic themes. And the Underground is no stranger to this event since the work quality level has also grown a lot in production, composition, art, and even live shows.
One of the cases is THE RITE, this band with members from Denmark and Italy, participated in bands like “Black Oath” and Denial of God to join efforts and talent. The album Liturgy of the Black comes through Iron Bonehead Productions.
To get on the subject, this is their debut album, preceded by an EP in 2018, “The Brocken Fires” and a demo in 2019, “The First Sin”. The band formed in 2017 but in fact, they looks like a veteran band in the pitch, very old school black metal combo. Their proposal is excellent with the intention to invoque the cult of the pagan rites with a great musical experience.
The style is classic black and characteristic doom with influences from Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, Goatlord, and Samael among others. I notice some influence of Darkthrone and his latest works in the style of riffs and progressions.
For a total running time of 45 minutes, very enjoyable, and divided into 10 tracks of great quality with an intro and outro, it enters the wave of very good productions that are coming out in these times. The instruments are heard perfectly and thanks to this you can taste it from start to finish and this is appreciated and valued a lot. The drums and bass accompany the sequences in a great way.
The beginning of the album is a grim introduction with the sound of a church bell in the distance in a dense, foggy night atmosphere. It immediately gives way to the first single, “The Black Effigy”, perhaps it is the high point that allows us to see the landscape that appears ahead. From this track begins the festival of melodic and dense riffs and tempos, high-speed transitions that lead to slow steps accompanied by the Nocturno Culto´s voice style performed in a very good way, song after song. I like this vocal style very much.
It´s difficult to choose some favorite songs, perhaps they are all very good and I consider that there are no considerable differences between, so I return to the point of consistency and virtue that THE RITE achieves on this very well-crafted album.
The anti-religious theme is present and the invocation of the forces of darkness to be a guide invades the atmosphere.
This is a serious release and one of the best BM from this year. So put the volume high and praise the lord of evil. 8.5/10 Jammerfal
Till the next review, Ale.
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