Ritual Aesthetic - Decollect

It's always nice to see a musician let their skill build for a while before they venture on their own to create a piece of music that will wow and shock audiences. I have to say that this may hold true with Sean Ragan, who is now known by his solo project name, Ritual Aesthetic.

Serving under the wing of Dawn of Ashes as their live drummer for their final tour, he picked up a few tips and tricks from the evil and maniacal sounding band. Not to forget about his previous adventures either, he's been drumming for black metal outfit Belhor since 2009. However, as much drumming as this man can do, the real question lies within the overall package. This release shows that this once drummer turned one man band can bring forth a worthy album that can put a lot of industrial metal bands who have their presence solidified within the scene straight down on their knees.

This release was originally a 2013 album, digital only, but thanks to the hard working folks over at Juggernaut Music Group, we are presented the album in a fully remastered glory, complete with three remixes to really get you pumped.

Now, the album by itself without the remixes included is pretty short; it comes in just under a half hour of music. And, with the remixes included, it comes to a little over forty minutes. While I understand that this is a first time release, I always like more bang for my buck, and this doesn't push that all too far. However, I suppose that the statement quality over quantity sticks true, here.

After a nice and brief one minute introduction that gets the disturbed mood set up for the incoming industrial metal fest that will shortly be playing throughout your brain, we are slammed head forth into Orphans In Coma. The awesome backdrop of heavy ambiance fueled by the raging metal influences within this song made this album an absolute seller for me. To me, it is the song of the album, the star of the show, and will be a favorite of mine for many years to come. The vocals in the track do sound similar to Dawn of Ashes in a sense, but there's an obvious difference; this man sounds less like a demon and more like an angry man in his songs. I like his chords a lot more.

Something To Know You By came back to deliver a slower song, similar in style, but honing in more on electronics and less on guitar. Orchid Incestus came back with heavier emphasis on electronics, and the chorus in this song was pretty damned good. Red Redeemer (Where The World Becomes Skin) gave us a slow instrumental that had some low whispers. Fleshing Wheel is perhaps the song that really shows of Ragan's roots, going for a complete metal touch despite the ambiance still prevalent in the background.

And, then, as if to counter balance the previous song, we are hit with an electronic instrumental in the form of Through The Lust Of Flies. For the first part, it remains pretty soft, until more sounds and sonic noise is inputted into the song around the one minute mark. And, as the final song on the album that isn't a remix, we get Tender Petal. The beginning sounds like something that should be in a noir film as a man in a raincoat walks down an alleyway, but it's a slow song up until the chorus comes along, where we're given an extremely noisey output. As the conclusion to an industrial metal album, we're surely presented with a bang.

However, I must not forget the remixes that were tacked on through their recent signing. Each remix is of the third song on the album, Something To Know You By. The first of the three is brought to us by Iszoloscope, who create a fairly unique render to the song. Starting off quite tribal in the beginning of the song with the use of drums, it slowly evolves into a techno-ish track with higher pitched notes going off, and then we're given some rhythmic noise attached to the bill. Much like the career of Iszoloscope, the song is extremely varied in genres.

Ruinizer came along to remix the song as well, making it more electronic and adding in some wobbles here and there to the bass. And, finally, Tactical Module came along to add his two cents to the song. Continuing off of where he left off with Into Exile, the song brings in his metal influences crossed with EBM to the world of Ritual Aesthetic. It made for my favorite remix of the three, and I would gladly listen to it again.

So, in the end, we're given a pretty solid industrial metal release. Now, a lot of people cringe at those words of industrial metal, some not even batting an eye to the scene in fear that only gutter slime will come out of it. However, this could very well be a release that puts those thoughts to rest. Ritual Aesthetic has a solid history within other bands, good ones at that, and can only push on and become even better than what this release has showcased for today. Mar 16 2014