KILL RITUAL
“Kill Star Black Mark Dead Hand Pierced Heart”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9/10

Kill Ritual are a heavy metal band from the USA formed in 2010, releasing six albums to date – ‘The Serpentine Ritual’ (2012), ‘The Eyes Of Medusa’ (2014), ‘Karma Machine’ (2015), ‘All Men Shall Fall’ (2018), ‘The Opaque And The Divine’ (2018), and ‘Kill Star Black Mark Dead Hand Pierced Heart’, released in 2022…

…featuring the bands traditional, yet thrashy, heavy metal sound. Prolific since the release of their debut, Kill Ritual have released six albums in just ten years – with their latest long player ‘Kill Star Black Mark Dead Hand Pierced Heart’, a nine song storm of sassy metal! Just take album opener ‘By The Hand Of God’ for example – it’s up tempo, lively, and full of spirit…the spirit of good old fashioned heavy metal. Very much “foot on the monitor” styled, ‘By The Hand Of God’ is highly infectious, insanely head bang-able, and a barnstorming start to the bands new album. Increasing the heaviness, Kill Ritual bare their teeth and show their thrash metal inclinations with the menacing ‘The Whore Of War’ – and a thunderous nature that breathes fire and brimstone. The songs gruff, rough and tough dynamic is weighty, with fans of thrash and traditional metal both banging their heads in sheer delight. ‘7 Knives’ slows the pace and tempo, adopting a heavy foot stomping attitude – for the first thirty seconds or so! And then a NWOBHM sounding guitar riff lights up the album, and ‘7 Knives’ storms off with more purpose and attitude than heard so far. Yet as the song progresses, there are pace changes galore, and a little glimpse of the bands more progressive nature.

With elegance and a massive majestic swagger, ‘I Am The Night’ is brought to life with a mellowness and serenity more associated with an incoming ballad – only for thunder to come crashing in, ‘I Am The Night’ moving forth with massive anthemic tendencies. And although foot stomping heaviness resonates loudly, the songs mellow beginnings do make quite a few returns. And for all the head bangers listening, Kill Ritual step on it, and deliver the heaviest song so far – ‘The Smell Of Death’ a thunderous thrash/traditional metal combo. Screaming vocals, rabid guitars and a menacing nature lead the way as ‘The Smell Of Death’ brings the worldwide mosh pits to life with a barrage of savage energy. Classic sounding heavy metal takes front and centre in the mighty shape of ‘Can You See Us Now’, with a fabulous foot on the monitor feel and a pace that has traditional metal written all over it. This is one of those mouth watering drool moments for metal traditionalists everywhere.

The awesomely titled title song ‘Kill Star Black Mark Dead Hand Pierced Heart’, is as creative as its title – a heavy progressive feel coming to the fore. The swagger, the swashbuckling nature, it’s all there, ‘Kill Star Black Mark Dead Hand Pierced Heart’ (the song) pushing the boundaries of the bands musical horizons. But back firmly in classic metal territory we have ‘Get In Line’, a thundering march of majestic heavy metal to bring the mosh pits back to life, and maybe create a few walls of death too! This album has been as intriguing as its title, and is brought to a close with the longest song on offer, the seven and a half minute long ‘The Devil, The Mist, The Flame’. And an elegance blended with a heaviness to create an epic atmosphere to plant smiles on the faces of metal heads everywhere. We all know Iron Maiden are the masters of the longer songs to end albums – but Kill Ritual have taken a leaf out of the British metallers song writing handbook here, to deliver a sparkling ending to a very good album of thrash tinged traditional heavy metal.

Overall, a thunderous, gruff, rough and tough journey of head bang-able heavy metal.

TRACKLIST

By The Hand Of God
The Whore Of War
7 Knives
I Am The Knight
The Smell Of Death
Can You See Us Now
Kill Star Black Mark Dead Hand Pierced Heart
Get In Line
The Devil, The Mist, The Flame

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