RITUAL "Widow" LP NWOBHM Full Moon Valhalla Virtue Iron Maiden PRIVATE METAL
$
46
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Description
NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING!!!!
Starting the sale of a private METAL COLLECTION. Over the next TEN WEEKS I will be selling 40 records per week (about) so come on back! ALL genres of metal--private pressings, rare Death, Traditional, Thrash, NWOBHM, Black, EVERYTHING.
SHIPPING: Domestic only, no International shipping! Repeat: NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING. only US DOmestic. $5 will get you up to THREE records at no extra cost (Double lp's count as TWO). So bid on one, bid on THREE. Shipping includes a PRO MAILER with cardboard backing and a TRACKING NUMBER. I am an old collector, I know how to pack and ship!
RITUAL "Widow" issued on HRR records, includes a booklet insert (with a fantastic interview and discography info and pictures) and extra 7" that has FOUR bonus tracks from the same session as the original LP! If you like NWOBHM in general and RITUAL in particular--this is MANDATORY. Cover and records are vg++ (i played it once to record, but I bought it used off the internet--everything looks great!)
Ritual's "Widow" is a difficult album to explain at first because there's no band that sounds quite like this, not in 1983 or since. The quick/easy/lazy way to describe them is to associate them with Pagan Altar or perhaps to a lesser extent, Witchfinder General, because "Widow" is very much a NWOBHM/doom album. Along with that are the subjects of witchcraft and other clandestine events, but this could be where the similarities between PA and WG stop.
The first thing that needs to be mentioned is how incredibly fucking somber the record feels; it's rare that you'll find a record this cold and unsettling. Though you could credit some of this to the bare bones production of the album, I'd like to think it's mostly intentional. The band plays with a certain delicate restraint, keeping the volumes to a minimum throughout most of the album to retain a consistently gloomy feel. The bass is louder in the mix than the guitar and the bassist often plays these slow, galloping lines, often sticking to just one or two notes the whole time while the guitar is allowed to harmonize over it with these ethereal, eerie leads and octaves. The minimalist approach to these bass lines, I think, are one of the album's trademarks. The singer is very good in his own slightly unique style. Can't think of someone to compare him to exactly, maybe something like the older NWOBHM bands like Jameson Raid or Bashful Alley. He sings kinda in that range.
I need not describe each track individually since every song pretty much stays close to what I already described. The one slight exception would be the song "Never For Evil", which is the only real "fast" song on the album, actually having a double bass beat, but even with that the song still sounds just as laid back and creepy as the rest of the tracks on the album.
The greatest thing about this album is how it retains this haunting feel to it so consistently throughout 35 min. It's addicting, and if you play it too much over and over it actually can kind of bum you out a bit since it's so grim. It's kind of like an entire album with the same feeling of the title track of Mercyful Fate's "Melisa", where the party's over and the witch has been reduced to cold, wet ash. But that's also what makes the album so special, and if this sounds like anything close to your thing, you must hear it at once.
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