DARK RITUAL – INCUBUS

por David Rodrigo (Coon) · 19/04/2015

From London comes “Incubus”, debut EP for DARK RITUAL. Active since 2014, the english duo present four tracks offering an interesting musical approach combining black, death and thrash metal.

First song here is called “Ritual” and it is quite strong and straightforward, presenting a black metal sound with death metal hints and just the right amoung of ambient melodies, creating an easy-to-enjoy song for every extreme metal fan around. Guitars and drums are the absolute main stars in this song. With some structure twist and a strong, heavy rythm, “Ritual” is really a good start.

It is followed by “Forgotten Souls”, a black metal track with athmospheric influences, evoking the memory of cold winter forests. With a rich structure full of twists and surprises, it’s six minutes are enough for DARK RITUAL to show their weapons. I think this is the most interesting song in the EP songwriting-wise, even though there’s still room for improvement in the production aspect (not that it wasn’t expected, giving the nature of this release).

Third one is “Covenant” and it’s maybe the one I like the least. It has a very interesting approach and a black metal sound full of death and thrash referentes, which makes the song quite dynamical and agressive, but I feel the six and a half minutes it last are a little bit too much for it’s own good, becoming somehow repetitive within several listenings. A shorter version would have been certainly better.

Finally, “Incubus” comes to close this EP. It is most likely their most personal sounding song here, with a black metal sound full of cold melodies, heavy riffs supporting the dense athmosphere and furious outbreaks aming for an agressive and enigmatic result. With a rich structure and guitars and drums as main stars once again, the lyrical aspect of “Incubus” is also good and important. Quite round, “Incubus” is the best ending possible for this EP.

DARK RITUAL have achive to release a solid and well done EP that will serve as a very nice presentation for every extreme metal fan around. There’s still room for improvement, not only production-wise but also in the development of the vocal parts (a bit flat in my opinión). However, this is a good debut that leave us expecting their upcoming LP in 2016.