Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Ritual Killer- Upon the Threshold of Hell - 2005 - Bloated Goat Records

Track Listing1. Demonic Possession 2. Invoke the Twilight Void 3. Empire of Shit 4. Hordes of a Black Storm 5. Dead River Intervention 6. Scourge of a Satanic Infinity 7. Axis to Mutiny 8. Witch of the Sabbatic Fire

I really hate giving negative reviews. Often I’ll bring up negative the points of an album, but there is usually at least one positive thing to say. This may very well be a first – an album that is just utter garbage. An album that I have nothing good to say about. An album that I’ll probably throw in the garbage after I finish writing. That’s pretty much all there is to say about New Orleans’ Ritual Killer and their release, Upon the Threshold of Hell – but I’ll go into some more detail anyway. The band’s drummer (Zak Nolan) and guitarist (Sammy Duet) are both former members of Goatwhore, another New Orleans black metal band who I have no great love for. They formed in 1999 but didn’t waste their time putting this together until 2004.

Upon the Threshold of Hell was recorded on a 16-track, obviously so the music would have a really “kvlt” and “nekr0” feel. Bad production isn’t the end of the world if you’ve got worthy material to justify it – but Ritual Killer doesn’t even come close. If the order of the tracks on this album was totally rearranged and no one told me, I wouldn’t be able to tell. Everything sounds almost identical. It’s as if someone wrote the most boring guitar riff black metal has ever seen and decided to use it in eight consecutive songs. To add to that, the drumming is barely acceptable (when you can even hear it) and the vocals don’t correspond in any way whatsoever to any other part of the music. They’re more like random interjections of pain than proper evil shrieks.

At one point, at the end of “Dead River Intervention,” there is some annoying satanic chant recited by a few woman with what sound like Irish accents. These girls are the most talented people to appear on the album, seeing as how I consider them neutral and everyone else negative. I can’t tell if this is a sound clip taken from somewhere or if the band actually recorded it themselves, but I don’t really give a shit either way. Aside from breaking up the monotony of the album, it seems to serve absolutely no purpose other than perpetuating the already overdone and stupid satanic theme of the album. I don’t have a problem with Satanism in music at all – and in black metal it’s often prevalent – but it could at least be done somewhat intelligently. I think that Ritual Killer just re-arranged the words in some Dark Funeral and Impaled Nazarene song titles to get theirs because there’s absolutely nothing original there either.

Actually, now that I consider it some more, I think I’m going to have to take back what I said about there not being one positive thing about this CD. It’s only about 26 minutes long! Thankfully I only had to endure that rubbish for such a short amount of time. Don’t buy Upon the Threshold of Hell. Don’t download it either. I’m going to take it out of my computer with a potholder so I don’t contaminate myself any further and then chuck it out the window. Congratulations, you’re getting the lowest rating I’ve ever given and probably ever will give.

1.5/10


--Veritas 08.12.05