The style of “Ritualis Aeterna” is quite
unique, Malacoda have found a way to blend the styles of old school Heavy Metal
mixed with some Horror tropes into the instrumentals and the use of the keys
really helps to push your emotions in the direction the story is trying to make
you feel. The real draw here is the vocal style of Lucas Di Mascio, the
beautiful blend of haunting Power Metal vocals, almost Manson-style Industrial
yells and of course the terrifying Black Metal vocals makes for a very unique
experience. By mixing the different styles the tone of the song shifts
drastically and gives off the idea of multiple characters to the stories.
Kicking off with “Penny Dreadful”, you get
the full experience of the mixed that band is capable of. Starting off with an
almost upbeat sounding Power Metal riff and vocals, you can’t expect the tone
to shift so dramatically that you'd think you just changed over to Dimmu Borgir. The reason the sudden shift works is it gives urgency, you’re just
going along with the Power Metal sound that when the sound changes that much
your mind goes “damn, what did I just miss” and if you’re anything like me,
will make you want to read into the lyrics and follow the story that’s being
played out for you.
Another song that shows off the style
really well, probably a little bit better actually, is “There Will Always Be
One”, but since it’s the same sort of idea I want to focus on its intro,
“Linger Here”, first. The thing about “Linger Here” is it comes out of nowhere,
the song is a ballad, not a long one but a ballad nonetheless. It’s a bit of a
risky move to throw something like this in the album, it can throw a lot of
people off and make them skip that part of the album, but I think the length
and placement is perfect. It's the second to last track on the album so at that
point you’re already pretty invested in finishing out the album. On top of
that, it’s short so before you really realize and might decide to change it,
it’s over and you’re in the next track. Lastly, as a ballad it obviously has a
sad tone to it so it lasts long enough to make you feel exactly what Malacoda
want you to feel, without bumming you out for the rest of the day.
Overall, I think this is an exceptional
album that deserves a lot of praise. Malacoda put everything they could into
“Ritualis Aeterna” just to make an outstanding release and if I can convince
just a couple of you this album is worth giving a chance then maybe it’ll end
up with the recognition it deserves.
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