Wieloryb — Ritual
First released in 2021 as a digital-only release, Ritual was the 11th album from Polish industrial/rhythmic noise project Wieloryb. Here’s a CD reissue of the album, which adds three bonus tracks to make a fifteen-track release.
For cover artwork, we get a simple/ slight blurred monochrome cover, which features someone standing on a bleak coastline looking out at an oil rig. I’m reviewing the CD promo release, so I can’t comment on the full/ finished release.
It’s fair to say that as an album it is fiery & full from the off, and rarely lets up on its pumping 'n' pummelling intensity. The fifteen tracks included have a runtime between two and eight minutes.
We open “Method”; it starts with a constant running pace blend of knocking, rhythmic hissing, and chopping tones. These are fairly soon joined by looped, then slowed, murky repeated work samples. As well as shifting touches of techno-like fanning, buzzing swirls, darts of synth keys, etc.
The title track blends looped smash ‘n’ hiss, tolling electro voice, low-key buried bass tone loop, and building web of sliding, slicing, and semi-noise jiving detail. There’s “Save Us” which blends rolling noise-grain texturing with on/off runs of rapidly churning pulses, chops, and slices. The original album's finisher was “Meadow” with a low-key buzzing bass groove, snap ‘n’ rolling beat tones, and rolling sways of crackle.
The three bonus tracks fit the tone/ feel of the rest of the album- though I’d say my favourite is “Fly”, with its taut & noise-hazed stabbing bass purr, clunking & bashing tone detail, and yodelling electro voice touches.
If you enjoy where hard-hitting beats, taut industrial tones, noise/ sampling meet, you’ll enjoy what Ritual has to offer!