After reviewing the previous two releases from this band, I had some pretty high expectations for their first full-length. After all, with two years and two new members joining the band, that should be plenty of time and effort to take their sound to the next level, right?

Well, His Tempting Ritual isn't bad, but it's much more generic than earlier releases. They still have some good melodies here and there, but they've traded their Blackened Death Metal influences for a rawer, more straightforward Black Metal sound that gets kind of tedious as the album goes on. I don't know if it was interference from the new members or simply a lack of inspiration, but on this album, Spell of Torment went from promising inheritors of Dissection to being just another Black Metal band. A letdown.