In This Moment - Ritual | Album Review

In This Moment: Ritual

Alternative-electronic-metal band In This Moment released their 6th studio album "Ritual", the album holds the band's traditionally sound, with a slightly more rock sound, instead of their normal metal sound. The album described by the band as a "stripped and organic rock album" feels very much like an Evanescence project.

I had heard roughly half the album live, last Sunday, July 16th, so I had an idea of the album's overall sound. Seeing them live at an indoor venue elevates their already great show, they put on by far the best all around show I have been to this year, I'm seeing them again, for the third time, this fall at Rock Allegiance in New Jersey and I am beyond excited to see, hopefully, new songs being performed.

Ritual opens with "Salvation" and then directly goes into "Oh Lord", both are stellar tracks, "Salvation" is just an instrumental track for roughly the first two minutes, before lead singer Maria Brink has a spoken line, which was used at the beginning of the "Oh Lord" music video. All three singles off the album have been some of my favorite tracks of the year, "Oh Lord" was perfect, the production on track is insane, vocally and lyrically it is a very strong track and was a great lead single. "Roots", the second single, and the last hard song on the album, was another all around great track. "In the Air Tonight", a cover the Phil Collins song, is once again flawless, and I don't like the original, however they put enough of a spin on the track to make their own, which, for me, is something I think any artist who covers songs should do.

This album feels very much like a concept album, the story builds throughout. "Half God Half Devil" is a standout track, and also serves as the name of their current tour, that song I feel embodies everything about the album, the lyrical concepts on this album have very religious undertones, and a very half god half devil theme throughout, that track also embodies the general sound of the album. My favorite track on the album is by far "River of Fire", I first heard the song in May at Carolina Rebellion, an it was one of the tracks I was most excited to here in any genre this year, and the track did not disappoint. I really hope this song becomes a single because I really want a music video for it.

Other standout tracks on the album "Joan of Arc" and "Witching Hour" fit perfectly into this album, and I would love to see the band pull out "Joan of Arc" for the fall leg of their tour. Both tracks have intro's, which is very typical for In This Moment, and I love them, the intro's add to the story, and help set up the rest of the album, and tie together tracks. "Lay Down Your Gun" closes the album, the beautiful piano ballad is the only track on the album that is remotely slow. I saw them perform this song when I saw them recently, and Maria Brink's beautiful vocals are showcased stunningly in this track, the live version gave me chills, and I had very high expectations for this, especially as an album closer, and it blew me away. Overall, I feel there is only one track that isn't up to par with the rest and that is "Twin Flames", however I still think it is a good song, I feel that every track on the album are such allaround strong tracks, I feel this one just fell a little short. Ritual without a doubt is a contender for Rock Album of the Year, and it one of the albums in any genre I've listened to in awhile. For more about In This Moment head over to inthismomentofficial.com

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