• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Canadians Starlight Ritual have put out a couple of EPs, but this is their debut album, and it is a straight-up feast for fans of classic '80s-era Heavy Metal. These guys of remind me of Skullview with their kind of messy, chaotic approach. The riffs on this thing are all class, and while vocalist Damian Ritual may not be first-rate, he has a ton of charisma and sells these songs with a steely-edged gritty attack. The guitar work really lifts this above the standard, as not only are the riffs pure slices of metal joy, the lead work has a definite Ritchie Blackmore vibe, adding that classic-era arena-rock flair.

Mostly this rules because the songwriting is just spot-on, without any dead spots or boring interludes. Fast or slow, these tunes are just really well put together, and they manage to sound fresh while also sounding like metal dug up from a time capsule buried since 1985. If you like the new wave of Trad Metal, then this is not an album to miss.