This is a fast, threatening wild beast, not always the most memorable album you’ve ever heard, but one with undeniable energy.
We get a great opening, with the explosive, pumped riffs of “Death by Hanging”, accompanied by snarly vocals, catchy drum rolls and a last riff that almost sounds like a wild guitar solo. “Eternal Night” feels like a continuation of the first track, with similar drum rolls and really energetic riffs. The last part of the song gets really fast, really catchy too.
The album becomes a little repetitive with “In Chariots of Grime”, which has the same riffs and drums as previous tracks. “Raven Raiser” is so similar that it doesn’t really stand out on the album. However, both tracks are fast and catchy enough to be enjoyable. There are some slight differences between those tracks, for example, “Dance of the Sullen” is heavier, and has even snarlier, monstruous vocals. “Procreating Armageddon” has deeper vocals and a sort of sinister quality to its guitar work. “Legacy” feels almost lighter in its intro, until it becomes even more furious than previous tracks. The rapid-fire, snarly vocals, and the sort of doomy riffs, are a great touch as well.
As for other enjoyable moments, “Exorcism of Liberation” is more ambitious, using a similar mix of slow and catchy black/doom metal riffs, an ugly, snarly scream of a vocal performance and an odd, dark atmosphere. “Under Red Menace” is a fast and angry black/thrash track, with the album’s fiercest snarly vocals. It’s a great conclusion to an album that turned out to be more than expected.
Overall, this is an album I’m not sure I should like, but I still kind of do. I don’t love it. I’m really disappointed in its repetitiveness, because although this is the first album I’ve ever heard from Ancestor of Kaos, I feel like they have the potential to do so much more than that. They have some really good guitar work, with a mix of heaviness, melody, and a real sense of creativity shining through the overall repetitiveness of the album. And like I said, the music has so much energy and ferocity that I can’t help but enjoy it. Animal Ritual is a good title for the album, because they sound like wild animals on this. Those beasts have made an album that could be better, but already has a lot of good things going for it. It’s not a must-hear, but if you feel like it, those will be some enjoyable 33 minutes.
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