"Salvation" moves seamlessly into the album's lead single, "Oh Lord," effectively functioning as both an intro to the album and as an intro to "Oh Lord." "Oh Lord" is a bluesy-rock song with a catchy and cascading melody as its chorus. The song brings forth the same theme as "Salvation" - that being the duality of human nature. Brink addresses the dichotomy of her essence when she asks whether she is "the righteous or the damned," "the sinner or the saint," and "Lillith or... Eve." Brink has said that she considers herself "spiritual" but not associated with any one particular religion, and that really seems to be exemplified on this album. Songs such as "Oh Lord" tackle Christianity (or at least use it as allegory) while songs such as "Witching Hour" tackle witchcraft and/or Paganism. "Oh Lord" is followed by "Black Wedding," one of my favorite songs on Ritual. "Black Wedding" features the lyrics "Priest, are you there?"and "Forgive me, priest, for I have sinned," and I am thinking that these lyrics are deliberate considering the fact that the song features guest vocals by Rob Halford, the lead singer of Judas Priest. When I saw In This Moment play in Rochester, NY this past summer, Chris Motionless of Motionless in White performed Halford's vocals, and he and Brink sounded great together. (This was, however, not a surprise to me, as the two had previously collaborated on the Motionless in White song "Contemptress.") "Black Wedding" is driven by a playful and oscillating piano accompaniment, a huge part of the song's appeal for me (as are its captivating lyrics, which briefly sample Billy Idol's classic hit "White Wedding"). It is definitely one of the catchiest songs on the album, and as I said, one of my favorites. The fourth track on Ritual is a cover of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight," and it's one of only two songs on the album that feels, to me, like a throwaway. It really doesn't do anything new or exciting with the song and isn't the best choice for Brink's unique and raspy voice, although it does definitely fit the album's overall spiritual theme. (Although there is currently no music video, "In the Air Tonight" was released as the album's third single.)
"Joan of Arc" is probably my favorite song on the album. In classic Rob Zombie fashion, the song opens with a line from a film; Dustin Hoffman, from the film The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, ominously but assertively asks the rhetoric question, "Who are you to even think you can know the difference between good and evil?" (This line yet again accentuates the album's overall theme of the duality of good and evil within us.) Similar to the Madonna song of the same name, the song addresses being the sacrificial lamb, either to the media or within a personal relationship. In This Moment's song, however, is much angrier than Madonna's and is lousy with sarcasm: "Go ahead; blame me for your sins. Go ahead, and sacrifice me." One of the heaviest songs on the album, it features a killer guitar riff encouraging headbanging galore, and it would be amazing to hear this song live. (I saw the band twice during their most recent tour to promote Ritual, and this song was unfortunately left off the setlist both times.) "River of Fire" has a catchy hook and, like "Joan of Arc," a memorable guitar riff. The first time that I heard the song was when I saw the band in Rochester this past summer, and it initially sounded a lot like "Oh Lord" to me. Although I am obviously now able to hear the clear differences, I still think that it has a similar bluesy groove to it. Ritual then gives us another highlight, the aforementioned "Witching Hour." This song was definitely inspired by historical witch trials. Similar to "Joan of Arc," it begins with a spoken intro (although in my efforts to find out whose voice is heard or what the monologue is from, I unfortunately found nothing): "Superstition and fear drove them all to accuse their friends and family of consorting with the devil..." "Witching Hour" is an upbeat electrorock song with an aggressive beat and catchy, almost poppy chorus. (Interestingly, the song makes several references to accused witches being burned alive, but no accused witches were burned alive in Salem. Most were hanged; some died in prison, and one was pressed to death. This is why I say that it's inspired by witch trials in general.)
Ritual's eighth track is titled "Twin Flames" and is honestly a lower point on the album for me. It doesn't have the catchy hook that many of the other songs found on the album do and is a bit repetitive, especially with its seemingly looping acoustic guitar strumming. It both sonically and lyrically reminds me of the band's song "Burn" (which seems to be one of the band's favorite songs, since they often include it in setlists). "Half God Half Devil" obviously sets the previously mentioned theme of duality down very clearly, as evidenced by its title alone. It would have even functioned well as the title of the album and was, in fact, the title of the band's most recent tour (even though the song was uncannily not performed). One of the heavier tracks on the album, "Half God Half Devil" is, like "Oh Lord," riddled with binary oppositions such as in the lyrics "You saw a sinner, saw a saint inside of me" (suggesting that both were seen), "You want to know if I'm a friend or an enemy," "my angels and my demons," and so forth. The song's chorus, in fact, is full of what seem to be polar opposites: "I can be your heavenly or I can be your hell. I can say a prayer for you or I can cast a spell. I push you to the darkness just to pull you to the light 'cause I can take away your breath or I can bring you back to life." I am reminded of the point that I made in my review of the new Marilyn Manson album regarding his song "SAY10": "You say God, and I say Satan," Manson sings. There is a similar theme present on this album, which is that we all have both good and evil within us and that one person's villain is potentially another person's hero (and vice versa). Following "Half God Half Devil," Ritual provides us with "No Me Importa" (Spanish for "I Don't Care"). "No Me Importa" begins with a low, weeping piano that quickly transforms into a chugging electric guitar. The song, which assertively chants that "I don't care!" in its chorus, lyrically addresses someone who has been manipulating the speaker, with the speaker finally taking a stance and saying that the offender's actions will no longer have any effect.
"Roots" is Ritual's second single following "Oh Lord" and reminds me a great deal of the band's older song "Blood" (from the album of the same title). "Roots" is a fun and catchy rock song (that I immediately loved upon my first listen) about thanking your difficult past for making you the strong person that you currently are. The lyric that I really take to and relate to is "I'm stronger than I ever knew; I'm strong because of you." The chorus features anthemic, strongly accentuated, and staccato notes similar to Three Days Grace's signature sound in songs like "I Hate Everything About You" and "Home." A standout track on Ritual, I remember feeling mightily disappointed when the band did not perform the song live the first time that I saw them during the Half God Half Devil tour in Rochester. It had just recently been released as the band's latest single, and my expectation had been that they would have wanted to help promote it by performing it. By the time that I saw them again in Utica, NY, however, it was added to their setlist. My only complaint about "Roots" is its placement on the album; its energy sounds like it should be near the beginning of the album, not near the end. The final song on most editions of Ritual is a soft piano ballad titled "Lay Your Gun Down." (The Japanese edition of the album features a breathy, dreamy, and ethereal cover of the classic Radiohead song "Creep.") "Lay Your Gun Down" is slow and gently hammered out on a piano. An atmospheric song during which Brink's vocals are semi-spoken and semi-sung, I would argue that lyrically speaking, the song's gun imagery is allegorical, that the song is more so speaking to mental illness and how it makes sufferers their own worst enemies: "What have I gone and fucked up again this time? How did I become my own demise?" With that being said, however, when I saw the band in Utica, Brink, before an extremely raw and heartfelt performance of the song, dedicated the song to the victims of the massacre in Las Vegas that had occurred two nights prior, and the song can definitely be interpreted in a more literal way such as that one.
I am overall very pleased with Ritual as an album. While not as good as Black Widow (which honestly sounds more like a greatest hits compilation than an album), it definitely has its charms and only a couple of tracks that are, in my opinion, throwaway tracks. (The two that come to mind are the "In the Air Tonight" cover and "Twin Flames," neither of which serve as highlights on the album for me.) In comparison to the band's last two albums, Black Widow and Blood, the album, in some ways, takes us back to In This Moment's roots because it is a lot more organic than either of those two albums. Like early albums such as Beautiful Tragedy and The Dream, it is a lot more raw and not as electronically driven as tracks like "Blood" and "Big Bad Wolf" are. That is neither a good thing nor a bad thing, although I do admit that one reason why I love Black Widow as much as I do is because of its synthesis of heavy metal and electronic music. (Ritual still does this at times such as on "Witching Hour," but it's definitely not as prominent as it is on Black Widow.) Something that makes studying and following In This Moment's career is that one can hear the progression and evolution of their sound from album to album, and Ritual, in some ways, seems to be a conglomeration of their previous five albums. I, as stated before, love the album's spiritual themes and its theme of duality within each of us. Both times that I saw In This Moment live during the Half God Half Devil tour, their stage was lousy with religious icons such as the Christian cross and the Pagan pentagram, and the fact that Brink said that she wanted to represent different avenues of religion is represented both on the album and during live shows. In This Moment will, very soon, be embarking on yet another tour in promotion of Ritual, this time titled the Witching Hour tour, but they are unfortunately not hitting a city close enough to me for me to see them. I, for now, definitely feel satisfied having seen them three times so far for, however.
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