On this, their fourth album entitled "All Men Shall Fall", KILL RITUAL are prepared to roll the dice in this current Metal-friendly environment.  Being from the Bay Area certainly helps spread the word as does the fact that the band was formed by members of IMAGIKA, ELDRITCH, and DARK ANGEL in 2010.  Their brand of Metal is one that defies the tag of Thrash or Power Metal, while the band does write with elements of both.  KILL RITUAL is a mature-sounding band, obviously unafraid to try new things.  One cannot deny that the production on the album is top-notch, and that can be credited to the band using Andy LaRoque of KING DIAMOND for mixing and mastering as they have on their previous three albums.  The band is bringing to mind some of the material from Metal bands of the early 90s that were heavy and almost-mainstream yet not Hair Metal a la FIGHT or even "Human Factor"-era METAL CHURCH.

The album sounds gargantuan.  It seems LaRoque knew all the right settings to bring out the best from the tracks.  Whether musician or simply just a fan, one has to marvel at the guitar sound. The rhythm guitar sounds would best be compared to the sound of TESTAMENT's Eric Peterson.  Being practically neighbors could be a reason, but that is not to say there is any copying going on.  It is indeed a unique guitar sound with the girth of their aforementioned Bay Area brothers, and also at times reminding one of George Lynch and the mighty Jake E. Lee.  While the guitars are chunky as Campbell's vegetable beef soup, the chords ring through clearly, and there are tons of carefully constructed arpeggios coupled with solos that push the boundary of genre.  The drums are handled with enough taste and competence, though one would be pleased with a bit louder kick and snare sound (possibly just personal preference).  The bass shines through the album as it is never buried in the mix and has a good growling bite yet clarity is not sacrificed.  Mike Inez of OZZY OSBOURNE / ALICE IN CHAINS, and others certainly comes to mind.  The vocals are perhaps the one point of contention.  At times, the mid-range singing compliments what the rest of the band is doing, but at others it sounds as if the songs were not written in the singer's preferred, best-sounding key.  Throughout the album, it is as if a war is being fought between the music and the vocals.  To say the vocals are hit or miss is putting it lightly since a strained passage is a definite song-killer.  The guy can sing, but the problem is that it doesn't always fit.

The first full-fledged song, "This Addiction," rips with a syncopated Thrash riff, but the vocals come in and simply sound forced, unnatural, and clashing.  Were it not for the nimble picking and interesting chord choice of the guitar, the song would flat out not work.  Though this is not the case, it sounds as if the singer was rushed into a new position in order to make a studio deadline.  While the music sounds at times like older Metal, the band employs the use of mosh-friendly rhythms and syncopation to keep things interesting.  A perfect example of this is track 3, the title track and also the point of the album where the vocals sound their best, almost verging on Geoff Tate-sounding execution at times. "Megalomaniac," starts with harmonics and some brutal-sounding bass which explodes into a Thrash-inspired affair with an epic and heavy verse riff.  Yet again, though, the vocals seem to rain on the parade for the rest of the band sounds too good to have such inconsistency at play.  Where there are breakdowns, the desired effect is ruined by dated, conflicting vocals.  "Save Yourself," the 5^th track is a kind of ballad that gets heavy, and in the verse section the singer stays in lower territory allowing the song to work.  It is afterward, though, when he strains while trying to scream, that the intended-feeling of doom is just not there.  The 6^th track, "A Reimagining," is perhaps the point of the album with the most out-of-the-box songwriting, containing beautiful melodies and vocals that actually work.  The vibe of the song is positive almost like the feeling one gets when listening to KING'S X's masterpiece, "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska."  "Dead Man on the Water," the 7^th track, has bluesy acoustic parts that forma power ballad vibe similar to something from BADLANDS.  Clearly, the guitar player does most of the writing in the band for his riffs, chords, and solos deliver a style all his own.

The band is on tour now with ICED EARTH and SANCTUARY.