Florian Grey
Ritus

Grey man Florian returns with a new album, his second one. This time it isn’t just a solo album though; this time they are a complete band. It is a quartet of guys now and they have put together a dozen tracks to fill the successor of the 2015 debut Gone. And this successor is described as being heavier, more uptempo and straightforward than the debut album that we very well received by us here at Hallowed. The second album is called Ritus and can be described as black with a skull as the cover picture – so it looks kind of dark.

Really gloomy dark rock, or gothic rock/metal is probably one way of describing the music of Ritus. If you want to compare with a band perhaps Him would be a good and well-known reference. Baritone vocals on dark slowish rock music of a catchy nature, also with space for keyboards and that sort of things. The music encompass a wide range and the can be described as fairly varied – and it is well produced. I also think that the vocals are quite strong, one of the stronger for an album of this style. And we can conclude that this is a quality production by a band that has taken a step compared with the previous album, they make it somewhat simpler and they are a bit rougher around the edges on this album that can be described as a bit simpler than its predecessor but still with the same depth.

Entertaining album, really good I think. Better or worse than the predecessor is a good question and perhaps it is as good as the debut album Gone, they are both slightly different with this album being the more easily accessible and simpler to like from the first play. I think it is an album that lacks weaknesses but has plenty of strengths with all the songs being really good and none of them feeling like a filler. I think that the strongest tracks has to be the really catchy opener called Bluecifer and the third track Bereft, they are both excellently catchy and entertaining and certainly playable over and over again. But there is no point picking favourites to play on repeat as the tracks are all good and entertaining and the album works best played in its entirety.

Yes is the answer, to the question if this album is worth getting. I like it and I can recommend it to all our readers, as it is a really strong album with great songs. One thing you can say is that Florian Grey remains a very interesting band and their second album is an interesting step to make another really strong album, an album that you really should have a look at. This is great stuff.

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