Ritual (CD) (Digi-Pak)

The face-melting Detroit quintet has made a career out of being unpredictable - as well as unhinged, unclassifiable and unrepentant, all in the best possible ways. But with RITUAL, it's fifth full-length album, the extreme metal troupe found fertile territory in the wide world of those prescribed practices that would seem verboten to a band that's always marched to the double-time beat of it's own drummer. Following up 2009's acclaimed DEFLORATE, which brought The Black Dahlia Murder the highest Billboard chart positions of it's 10-year career, RITUAL revels in both conceptual ambition and equally striking musical growth from a band that's pushed itself into more extreme and challenging territory on each successive release.

Rising above the predictable black din of contemporary death metal can be a formidable task, but Michigan-based melodic death rockers the Black Dahlia Murder manage to do just that on their fifth studio album, the relentless and rewarding Ritual. Employing a lethal mix of old-school American thrash, Scandinavian black metal, Carcass-era grindcore, and classic dual-lead power metal, Ritual roars in like a runaway train and leaves the listener in pieces. Stand-out cuts like "Moonlight Equilibrium," "The Window," "Carbonized in Cruciform," and "Blood in the Ink" may borrow cues from like-minded outfits such as Protest the Hero, Unearth, and At the Gates, but the sheer stamina, unpretentious delivery, and attention to detail (pinpointed bursts of vocal flange, Iron Maiden-worthy staccato leads, and breakdowns that actually feel necessary) is pure Black Dahlia firing on all cylinders. It's the band's most impressive outing to date, and easily one of the best metal albums of 2011. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi

Performer	The Black Dahlia Murder
Music genre	Pop, Heavy Metal
Music subgenre	Metalcore
Music release type	Release
Media format	CD
Original release date	2011
Edition	Limited Edition
Language	English
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Series title	Black Dahlia Murder - Ritual [CD]
Track listing	A Shrine to Madness,Moonlight Equilibrium,On Stirring Seas of Salted Blood,Conspiring with the Damned,The Window,Carbonized in Cruciform,Den of the Picquerist,Malenchantments of the Necrosphere,The Grave Robber's Work,The Raven,Great Burning Nullifier,Blood in the Ink
Record label	Metal Blade
Songwriter	songwriter
Duration	45 min
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N