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MetalHead.it - 'Ritual' Review
On the universal source of
culture called 'Wikipedia',
looking for information on
Metallica emerges a sentence
that reads, more or less:
Metallica were formed in Los
Angeles in 1981 when Danish-born
drummer Lars Ulrich made an
announcement in the newspaper
that he was looking for other
metal musicians who were
influenced by Tygers of Pan
Tang, Diamond Head and Iron
Maiden. Metallica have changed a
lot since then, despite a very
stable line-up (bass players
aside) ... and there are those
who swear they have changed for
the worse. The Tygers of Pan
Tang, on the other hand, have
undergone an apocalypse of
line-up changes ... but ... BUT
... their heavy metal continues
to break the ass and, perhaps,
even today announcements are
circulating (obviously on the
web, the print is obsolete) of
musicians looking for other
musicians to play heavy stuff,
quoting Robb Weir's band! A band
that for many years, among other
things, boasts a very stable and
damn powerful line-up: not only
is the immortal master mind Robb
... next to him is the guitarist
mulls females (words of Jacopo!)
Michael McCrystal, that groove
king Gav Gray on bass, that hard
beat of Craig Ellis on drums and
... the mighty Jacopo Meille
with his fabulous voice! After
the superlative self-titled
album of 2016 I feared the
worst, also because it is known
how extremely difficult it is to
replicate or overcome
masterpieces. In fact, the first
listening of "Ritual" did not
trigger those excesses of
vibrations as happened with the
previous album, so much so that
I started looking for an elegant
way to 'reject' the twelfth
album of one of the most
essential bands of the world
metal scene . But at a certain
point, with a cigarette, a
drink, the mind lost in the
darkness shattered by the glow
of the monitor, in front of an
article still empty ... here is
the refrain of songs like "White
Lines" started to appear, with
arrogance, in my thoughts,
invading them, taking possession
of them! Unconscious psychology
of music: this can only happen
with very high level albums!
"Worlds Apart" opens with
ferocity and dominance. A brutal
example of how the NWOBHM should
and MUST be played: metallic
bass, overwhelming rhythm,
lethal riff, pure headbanging
and pride-filled vocal lines
with a legendary refrain ... and
of course a solo that breaks!
"Destiny" is a frontal assault
full of intense melodies,
twisted vocal lines crowned by
an epic refrain and another solo
with a virtuous taste. Legacy
"Rescue Me", backbreaking "Raise
Some Hell", as heavy as the lead
"Spoils of War". "White Lines"
is sex translated into music,
while "Words Cut Like Knives"
adds a powerful dose of poignant
romance. Heavy metal of a
24-karat purity with "Damn You!"
(I love that hint of growl!),
Pure provocation of the past
with "Love Will Find A Way"
while the two concluding tracks
are deliciously obscure: "The
Art of Noise "and" Sail On ".
Robb is kind of a dark god of
metal. His band? They are his
devils, his henchmen, his
accomplices. Together they
commit heinous crimes, ruthless
murders, extreme outrages.
Granted, and not granted, that a
court can ever judge them, the
sentence would say something
like ‘unintentional murder’. The
victims? All those bands that
have tried without persistence
to make it, or that have made it
but have not won the time ... or
they have arrived but have not
been able to return to the
throne for more than one disc or
two. The Tygers Of Pan Tang,
after more than 40 years,
continue to be there, they are a
guarantee, they mark the pace,
guide the mass and cancel the
competition! "Ritual" writes
another indelible page from the
Metal encyclopedia with blood!
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