- Ritual Howls continue to conjure a darkly cinematic mood which writhes, like a serpent under a spurred boot, between goth, deathrock and industrial electronica on their latest offering at the altar of darkwave, Rendered Armor. Haunting and sensual, hypnotic and danceable, Rendered Armour sees the Detroit three-piece stay true to their gothic-western sensibilities whilst funeral-marching further into the dark industrial landscapes that lie on the edge of the ghost towns within their sprawling cinematic inspired soundscapes.
Paul Bancell’s achingly baritone vocals echo like a tortured soul reciting occult scripture and long forgotten love notes. Lyrically, he leads us through rocky ravines of longing, down into valleys of self-obliteration and through sacred grounds of myth and folklore. Poetic and punctuating, his stories are sharp and strong, albeit a little self-indulgent at times. This, however, is easily forgiven when the jangle of his guitar cuts to the bone. The haunted, yearning hooks are an ode to Robert Smith's iconic, lucid guitar work in the best possible way and provide the album a beautifully delicate and organic element. Ben Saginaw’s bass creeps and crawls like a tarantula: fuzzy and frantic, over and under the tracks. Whilst it’s nothing particularly groundbreaking for a post-punk/deathrock bassline; it's exactly on point. The hypnotic, 4-4 riffs rise, fall & repeat, pulling you deeper into the album with every track and keeping the pace steady on this long, lonesome stretch of scorched earth. Chris Samuels’ masterful and selective synthetic elements gleam, chrome-like, against the dark and velvety depths of the album & truly catch your attention.
These elements of industrial electronica have always run like brambles through Ritual Howls' darkly melancholic soundscapes. The icy synths and club-ready beats were there in 2014’s breakout release Turkish Leather and appeared again, richer in form, throughout 2016’s beautifully expansive Into The Water. Rendered Armour delivers what fans will be expecting: eerie, jangly, deathrock that lures your body to the dancefloor and your mind to the depths of the desert.
Ritual Howls drink from the well of seminal deathrock/ dark country acts such as Bauhaus, The Sisters of Mercy, The Birthday Party, The Scientists and The Lords of The New Church- all of whom plucked goth out of the graveyard and cast it into the desert- making what was romantic and haunting into something wild, depraved and possessed; clad in leather- crazed by the sun. Rendered Armour beautifully exhibits the bands' innate ability to unite dark-country with darkwave, a genre truly having its moment in the moonlight (like a moment in the sun- but for goths).
The caliber of the pulsating darkwave scene both abroad and here in Australia is at an all-time high. Acts that vivisect the gothic with the electronic such as Boy Harsher, VOWWS, Buzz Kull, Pleasure Symbols & Bitumen have their adoring audiences in the palm of their velvet-gloved hand. Rendered Armour rounds up the best of these genres and with the crack of a whip, wrangles them into a darkly danceable offering, replete with slow burns and instantly infectious melodies that wash over you like icy rain on parched earth.
- Dominique Furphy.