Greece’s Unholy Ritual have been going officially since 1997, but properly since 2001 when they released their first demo, ‘Denial from Heaven’. Since then they have built up quite an impressive CV, sharing the stage with the like of Satyricon, Marduk and genre godfathers, Mayhem. Rex Mundi is their first album, released in 2008 but only just got hold of by me, and sees them make a very impressive racket. 

Opener ‘Killer Instinct’ is a sweeping slice of epic, symphonic fury that instantly grabs this black metaller and shakes me awake from my badly produced, necro daydream. This is some engaging stuff, mixing classical synth lines with some more squealing parts; it’s a nice departure from the bands that just stick to one thing! ‘Exiled as a Serpent’ has a strong Dark Fortress influence for me, although leaning heavily on the orchestration. There is a refreshing, gleeful spite and hateful flare about this album that makes it an enjoyable listen, especially ‘Consequences’ and album closer ‘Unholy Ritual’. It is quite evident that Unholy Ritual have taken some lessons from the their countrymen Rotting Christ, but have tempered them with a larger serving of Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, dipping largely into the rich orchestra led atmospheres as the album progresses. 

 

As polished as the sound is on this record, I really like it, I think if you are going to go for the epic, symphonic black metal style, then you really have to go all out to make sure all the instruments are heard. ‘Where Gods light is an Error’ is a perfect example of this, a quality piece of deathy, majestic black metal, and along with the opener, probably my favourite track. Rex Mundi is a very confident and competent album from a band that hopefully have years of good music ahead of them. Not for the grimest of kvltsters, but for anyone more open minded to and receptive to some Cradleing, go for it, you won’t be disappointed! 

Carl Sucharyna Thomas