Sacred Ritual (UK) - S/T (Demo 2010)

The debut demo by this black metal duo hailing from Kent, comprised of SPR on drums & vocals and DWF on guitar, and who would only leave another release following this one, that being a split with Icelandic act Grimmd in 2012. A band from the most shadowy corners of the British underground, seemingly associated with the excellent but sadly very short-lived Tanatus label, and by extension the closely-linked Zos Kia Kultus, since despite the fact that this was an independently released demo the track "The Unshadow" appears on the Tanatus SoundCloud page alongside what few other acts were in their roster:   / tanatus   Regardless, Sacred Ritual here plays frostbitten raw black metal in line with other obscure early 2010s UK projects from the aforementioned labels like Balistraria, Thunorsleap, Gaunt or Shroud. Cutting straight to the essence of the genre, its malignancy emerging slowly out of the boggy haze and howling winds in the intro then fully exposing itself by pouncing out of the dark forest undergrowth with the second track, which starts as a commanding blizzard of frantic tremolo riffing and blast beats before slowing down into an absolutely killer punk-ish stomp, beastly chords mercilessly tearing into its sacrificial prey. The piercing assault continues on the following two tracks until coming to a halt as guitar feedback and a screeching slide halfway through "Beneath Frozen Soil" plunge it into a haunted mid-tempo with sinister almost post-punk-ish or deathrock-ish arpeggios, building into quite the rocking-out section and eventually springing back to black metal fury in very sick fashion with a final reprise of the opening riff fading out into its hidden abode. Just some real solid if pretty traditional stuff, an ageless sound. Self-released on cassette July 2010. ■ More information on the release: ● Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/24686... ● Last.fm: https://www.last.fm/music/Sacred+Ritu... ● RYM: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/una... ● Encyclopaedia Metallum: https://www.metal-archives.com/albums... ► TRACKLIST: 1. 0:00 Intro 2. 01:45 The Unshadow 3. 05:55 Forgotten Pathways 4. 08:27 Beneath Frozen Soil I take no credit for the music or artwork. All rights belong to the respective authors.