Detroit-based band Ritual Howls will release their new album Rendered Armor on March 22 via Felte (pre-order). Today "Thought Talk" from the forthcoming release premiered with Red Bull Radio's Peak Time and will be broadcast on Thursday's edition of the show which airs from noon to 3pm EST. Ritual Howls have also announced a summer tour with The Faint & Closeness. All upcoming shows are listed below.
Last month the band shared the album's first single "Alone Together" with Flood Magazine.About the track Flood says, "Ritual Howls is arguably Detroit's biggest contribution to the darkwave scene, and "Alone Together," the first cut from their recently announced Rendered Armor, exhibits the trio's natural cinematic approach to the genre. Embracing the eeriest elements of the Darko soundtrack, though, the group feels nearly as comfortable pulling from Westerns, with Paul Bancell's deserted landscape-sprawling guitar matching the bold presence of Chris Samuels' synths and programmed drums and Ben Saginaw's thumping bass. It's a unique blend, but their chemistry is undeniable." "Alone Together" can be shared at Bandcamp, Soundcloud or Spotify.
Ritual Howls create a cinematic blend of twangy industrial-rock that could fuel a post-apocalyptic dancefloor. A collaboration between Paul Bancell (vocals, guitar), Chris Samuels (synth, samples, drum machine), and Ben Saginaw (bass), the Detroit trio's fourth full-length Rendered Armor followsthe Their Body EP of 2018 with expansive arrangements sculpted with masterful production.
Throughout Rendered Armor familiar influences reveal themselves, but the band doesn't rely on derivative imitation. Instead, Ritual Howls forge haunting atmospheres that are all their own, reaching into unexpected sonic domain. Each track unfolds with unnerving anticipation, as if sound tracking a chase scene in a surrealist western film. Bancell delivers his baritone above a jangling guitar like an incantation, evoking macabre, religious imagery laden with futuristic undertones. Propelled by Saginaw's often fuzzed-out bass and Samuels' dance club-friendly rhythms, it's no surprise that the band hails from the techno capital of the US.
Opening the album with a gloomy country-tinged guitar hook, "Alone Together" sets an ominous tone as Bancell narrates a love story in a doomed world, colored by a glassy synth that sounds as if it were summoned from a horror movie. A sense of longing pervades "Thought Talk" with its subdued, hi-hat accented tempo, spacious bass line and reverb-soaked guitars that ring out with melancholy. Ritual Howls' most mature offering to date, Rendered Armor finds the band further carving out their own eclectic mix of organic instrumentation and pulsing electronics, distinguishing them as a unique force in the current landscape of underground music.
Ritual Howls Tour Dates
04.13 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (Record Release)
07.27 Allston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
07.29 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
07.30 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
08.02 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts *
08.03 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
08.04 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall *
08.05 Pittsburgh, PA @ Get Hip Records
08.06 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop *
08.07 Detroit, MI @ El Club *
08.09 Chicago, IL @ House of Blues *
08.10 Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave II (Downstairs) *
08.12 Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe *
08.13 Kansas City, KS @ Madrid Theatre *
08.15 Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Live *
08.16 Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn *
10.04 Tampa Bay, FL @ Absolution Festival
* w/ The Faint, Closeness
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