ALBUM REVIEW: Rituals Of Shame – Warning
A lot can change in twenty years. Governments, trends, technology. Two decades can hold a wealth of change. Something that has not changed but only increased is the reverie with which some bands are held. Bands can release an album and it be welcomed with critical and audience acclaim leading to tags such as ground breaking or genre defining. In 2006 this is precisely what happened with WARNING with the release Watching From A Distance. A landmark album for doom metal and one with a reputation that has only grown over the years. Returning now, with their first new music since then, WARNING look sent to claim the limelight with Rituals Of Shame.
It is as if no time has passed. As the new album drops into the title track. Precise and deliberate strikes flooded with space. It’s as if WARNING are picking up from the fade out of Echoes from their last album. Faultless delivery sees the music being instantly recognisable, yet there is a noticeable jump in how the overall production presents it. With the title track alone, Rituals Of Shame comes across as even weightier than the predecessor. Making even more use of the pauses so that when the wall of sound hits, it’s like a finely tuned sledgehammer. The vocals, slicing through everything with Patrick Walker’s trademark style. It’s a magnificent return.
From here the album draws you in. Emotive and captivating. Making a feature of the slow tempo with embellishments enables WARNING to generate a powerful presence. This is doom metal with absolute grandeur. Tracks such as Stations or the closer Teacher with its epic stance demand absolute attention. The latter track is a tremendous crescendo to the whole narrative, drawing a prefect line to the emotive immersion. It elevates the album to the finish and may well go on to become one of WARNING’s defining tracks.
Some may point to the sound as having matured little in the years since the previous studio release. It may also not appeal to those that have never found their way into the style that WARNING create. It is spacious, there is room between notes and this leads to extended track lengths. It is therefore unlikely that Rituals Of Shame will turn the heads of those that haven’t necessarily already got into WARNING. That, however, doesn’t detract from the power that this album holds. It is expansive and enthralling. Measured in its creative execution to bolster the emotional power behind the lyrics and utterly transportive in delivery. For this there is both the musicianship and the production at play. Both of which are perfect.
With the themes pulling from the personal perspective of Walker, Rituals of Shame is nevertheless a deeply human album. The music pushing into emotional depths that anyone who hears it can relate to. While much of it may lean heavily on the bleaker spectrum of emotion, there is a spark of joy, a hope that borders on love that balances out the crushing depths being explored. With the sparse grandeur that made Watching From A Distance a cult phenomenon coupled with the frankly gorgeous mixing. Rituals Of Shame is testament to how, when the moment is right, it doesn’t matter how long it’s been, great musicians can still create moments of immersive majesty.
Rating: 9/10
Rituals of Shame is set for release on June 19th via Relapse Records.
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