Metal Na Lata  - 'Ritual' Review by Marcelo Vieira

Classics aside, the current lineup is the best Tygers of Pan Tang has ever had. I also dare to say that his last two works - the self-titled 2016 and this "Ritual" - are perhaps the coolest of the band's extensive discography. Once the leader of a respected New Wave of British Heavy Metal second-tier, Tygers doesn't settle for the well-deserved status and kind of binds the fuck to the fact that the listener of the more traditional metal streak is, par excellence. that stopped in time, totally averse to change, either in form or in content - I say “middle” because riffs like “Damn You!” make the longing vein throb with emotion and ready-made speeches like “No more. rock like in the old days ”even scratch the throat.

Of course, the sound update is not nonsense, nor at random. The music is still rooted in the English standard established four decades ago, but it takes on more modern contours, especially thanks to the contribution of the prodigy Micky Crystal, who, like Richie Faulkner's entry revitalized in countless aspects Judas Priest, seems to be largely responsible for the music. Tygers rejuvenation. The way your guitar conducts the repertoire leaves no room for doubt. But if a swallow just doesn't summer, so does the tigers, and alongside Crystal, the individual talents of Iacopo Meille (vocals), Gav Gray (bass), Craig Ellis (drums) and guitarist and commander in chief Robb Weir help compose the leafy panorama of "Ritual."

As much as the monochromatism of the cover is indicative of a conservative approach, let us not forget Iron Maiden, whose "The Book of Souls" (2016), contrary to its packaging, provides a diverse, lyrical and musically interesting collection, " Ritual ”goes from using the talkbox in“ Rescue Me ”to the runaway train that is“ Raise Some Hell ”. Epic contours manifest in the opening “Worlds Apart” and “Spoils of War”, whose atmosphere is capable of transporting the listener directly to the front.

And since we talk about lyrics, that of "White Lines," the first single and music video for "Ritual," talks about a life of recklessness ruled by cocaine addiction: "Spent every weekend at the party / Can't Believe the Things I 've done'. From the confusion - "Is there light at the end of this journey?" - to the conclusion in the best scheme "who warns friend is": "You gotta find a way to ignore it". Two sides of the same balancing coin are present in the whining Words Cut Like Knives and Love Will Find a Way, a foray into European-standard hard rock without the pasteurized blessing of a Frontiers. The extra track is a gift to the old guard: “Don't Touch Me There,” the single that started it all, re-recorded forty years later, with a footprint similar to today's live performances.

With the clock about to hit an hour of music going on, “Ritual” also achieves the feat of not becoming uninteresting or tiring as time goes by and tracks averaging five minutes long are succeeding. By the way, the immediate impulse is to get the CD to roll again, and so on. The tygers have been honing fangs and claws, biting and gutting with primal appetite, and offering a competitor worthy of the 2019 heavy metal disc title.

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