Ritual Servant (thrash metal)

[Kerrick]

I'm not typically a big thrash metal guy... but these gents are pretty dang good.  I especially appreciate Ritual Servant's biblical/bold lyrics and how adamant and focused they are in ensuring their music gives all honor and glory to God alone.  They just signed to Roxx Records for the release of their debut album too.

You can purchase their EP and two singles from their Bandcamp.

Here's their post from another forum about the new album and label deal:

We are beyond pleased and honored to announce our signing with Roxx Records!
We have prayed for the label God wanted us to be on and we feel from the below
words from the label that this is exactly where He wants us to be to glorify His name!
Thank you everyone for your love, prayers and support. The hour has come as we give
thanks, glory, honor and praise to the One who made it all happen.
All glory to you Father!
See below for the Official album cover art painted by Noel Puente

Roxx Records is very excited to bring you another absolutely amazing release in 2019.
Hailing from SC / NC, we bring you Ritual Servant !


Ritual Servant may be one of the boldest bands for God we have ever brought you. Bold and in your face Scriptural lyrics and one of the most beautiful album covers designed by Noel Puente from Granada, Spain. When we started to work on logos and titles for this cover, the band quickly stopped us and said they wanted this art to stand on its own, with no band logo on the front, exalting and proclaiming what they stand for as a bold statement to the Christian and secular community. 


Front man Patrick Best said, 'This album is NOT about us, it is about making a bold, exalted statement for Christ and giving God all the praise, honor and glory'


This is truly an amazing piece of Christian Metal that is sure to leave a mark on your minds and souls. You are not going to want to miss this one as we bring you the debut full length release from Ritual Servant coming your way in 2019.

[MetalPioneer]

Thanks for sharing this! I saw the post on Roxx Records' Facebook yesterday, but assumed that it was just another heavy metal band. They need to do a better job of promoting which subgenre a band is lol. I listened briefly to a clip and it sounded great, reminded me of old school Metallica. That's awesome, because the only Christian thrash band that really sounds like them that I know of is Eternal Decision. Looking forward to checking out the rest of their material.

[Kerrick]

I'm glad you like!

Ha, that's a pet-peeve of mine too: when announcements or what-have-you of new bands don't specify the (sub)genre.

[Kerrick]

Posted last week on FB:

METALLUM EVANGELII album now being mixed and mastered - album will feature the original 777 EP songs totally remastered as well as 5 other songs for a total of 8 - ROXX and Scott Waters currently designing album layout design - get ready!!! - release date will be coming soon - all glory to God

[Kerrick]

Preorders are up!
http://roxxrecords.storenvy.com/products/25651374-ritual-servant-metallum-evangelii-2019-cd?fbclid=IwAR0slZ6nFZTtCBXKWyPulQJDsX2dKhKJK27P4fOWRIGzwx445nCx0xciLvA

[MetalPioneer]

Preorders are up!
http://roxxrecords.storenvy.com/products/25651374-ritual-servant-metallum-evangelii-2019-cd?fbclid=IwAR0slZ6nFZTtCBXKWyPulQJDsX2dKhKJK27P4fOWRIGzwx445nCx0xciLvA

Thanks for the link.  I guess I need to decide if this is one that I want to preorder, or I might just wait until it's out.  Got to mind my wallet, lol.

[Kerrick]

Haha I hear ya... I'm already over my February music budget... Though I've got some carryover from 2018 to work with.

[Kerrick]

The pre-orders shipped early!  My CD is due in today's mail.  

[MetalPioneer]

Please let me know how it is, Kerrick. I ended up not pre-ordering this one, but I'll trust your judgment if you say it deserves my attention.

[Kerrick]

It's very good; I think you'll want to pick this one up!  That being said, I'm no thrash aficionado so you may want to get a second opinion!  There's not a weak song on the album, though it is somewhat short (only 38 minutes).  There are some epic-doom elements which I wasn't expecting though I really dig.  The doom is much more subtle than, say, Adorned Graves however and interspersed within the songs: there are no all-doom songs.  It's a thrash album through-and-through.  You can listen to the first song on their Bandcamp: if you like it, I'd bet you'll like the whole album.
https://ritualservant.bandcamp.com/album/metallum-evangelii

If I were to have one complaint - and this is really just a personal preference - it'd be that it could use some more diversity.  While within each song there's actually a fair bit of diversity, all the songs have a similar pace and feel to one-another.  For a concept album or maybe an album of another genre, this might be more of an issue, but I think most thrashers probably enjoy a more consistent pace/feel.  Nonetheless, I would've enjoyed there being a slower track, epic instrumental, or a track of particularly blistering speed in there to further mix things up some.  Again, just personal preference.  And because each individual song does have quite a bit going on, I suspect this one will be a grower and eventually the songs will further distinguish themselves from one-another.

TLDR: buy it.  

[MetalPioneer]

It's very good; I think you'll want to pick this one up!  That being said, I'm no thrash aficionado so you may want to get a second opinion!  There's not a weak song on the album, though it is somewhat short (only 38 minutes).  There are some epic-doom elements which I wasn't expecting though I really dig.  The doom is much more subtle than, say, Adorned Graves however and interspersed within the songs: there are no all-doom songs.  It's a thrash album through-and-through.  You can listen to the first song on their Bandcamp: if you like it, I'd bet you'll like the whole album.
https://ritualservant.bandcamp.com/album/metallum-evangelii

If I were to have one complaint - and this is really just a personal preference - it'd be that it could use some more diversity.  While within each song there's actually a fair bit of diversity, all the songs have a similar pace and feel to one-another.  For a concept album or maybe an album of another genre, this might be more of an issue, but I think most thrashers probably enjoy a more consistent pace/feel.  Nonetheless, I would've enjoyed there being a slower track, epic instrumental, or a track of particularly blistering speed in there to further mix things up some.  Again, just personal preference.  And because each individual song does have quite a bit going on, I suspect this one will be a grower and eventually the songs will further distinguish themselves from one-another.

TLDR: buy it.  

I will pick it up eventually, but I've been spending too much on music and merch lately. Got to dial it down a little bit.

[Kerrick]

Right on.  Yeah this month I went a bit over-budget on music as well...

I read through the lyrics yesterday and they're equally high quality to match the music.

[crucifyd]

thrash is my favorite style of metal and I think this is really good...my only hang up is the vocals. kind of odd and at times comical sounding to me.

vocals are usually my biggest hangup and they may grow on me in time. a prime example is stop the bleeding by tourniquet. when I bought it in 1990 I couldn't stand it because of the falsetto vocals. shortly after that it rose to and is still very firmly in my top 5 all-time records. in fact Guy Ritter is my favorite metal vocalist.

all that to say if you like thrash at all, give Ritual Servant a shot...
you can give a good listen on bandcamp first as well
https://ritualservant.bandcamp.com/album/metallum-evangelii

[Kerrick]

Welcome Crucifyd! It's good to see you here.

Yes it's a very strong album for sure. The vocals sound classic "thrash metal" to my ears, though I'm not a big enough thrash aficionado to discern the subtleties.

[Sponsored content]