RITUAL MASS is a Death Metal band from Pittsburgh. Influenced by a variety of styles from the late eighties, they play old school Death Metal with Grindcore, Hardcore, and a few Thrash Metal elements. They released their debut EP "Abhorred In The Eyes Of God" online already in 2019 and later on as vinyl. Now, Caligary Records, a local underground label, has re-released 150 copies on cassette.

"Abhorred In The Eyes Of God" is a 12 minutes journey that sounds like early American Death Metal, and added bits of early SUFFOCATION as well as NAPALM DEATH. The opener "Grievous Sin" starts off with slow tempo and then transitions into a fast sequence with flesh-ripping guitar riffs and brutal growls and screams. This sets the scene for the remaining part of the EP: frequent changes in pace while the growls hardly vary. "Seated At The Right Hand Of The Lord" is altogether a bit faster but follows the same pattern. Guitars have a bit more variation compared to the first song. "Servant" is the song that contains a few different elements: a one minute slow introductory part followed by maybe the fastest part of the whole EP which is then followed by another slow part that includes an excellent lead guitar part which makes the song perhaps a bit different from the others. After listening to "Servant" a few times, it is going to be my favorite of the EP because I like the transitions from the opening slow part to breakneck speed and back. DH on the drums is here at his very best. "Abhorred In The Eyes Of God" concludes with "Devoured" which is the longest song with 3:31 minutes. Not much different from the other songs, it extends the slower part a bit and there are a couple of more transitions. All 4 songs are also available on Youtube with the link given below.

RITUAL MASS deliver a debut that has a variety of well-known Death Metal and Grindcore elements yet different to other bands of those genres. It is the way how they mix it up and with that they create their own, unique sound. Their play with tempo changes of drums, guitars, and bass while the growling vocals completely follow their own pattern. That makes "Abhorred In The Eyes Of God" interesting. However, while this concept may work here on a 12 minute EP, the future will show how RITUAL MASS approach a full-length album. Fans of the aforementioned bands will surely like "Abhorred In The Eyes Of God" and will look forward to more material of RITUAL MASS.