From Bandcamp, I could find only this brief introduction to the band: Founded in 2007 by Kim & LR to make songs that didn't fit for “Lifelover.” Not much happened until 2013 when things have taken an entirely different turn and new stories are to be told. The flame was reignited in 2020 after years of individual ritual practice, RITUALMORD is once again through Kim and 1853.” The album has 13 songs, and “Inandan” is first; a short album opener, leading to “Stonerpop.” It has an odd, electronic sound, with melancholy vocals and paints a picture of despair. The vocals are barely sung, and are more like whispers, or cold spoken words.

“Spar” has that Post quality to it where the music almost borders on straight rock, if it weren’t for the huge black cloud that floats in the sky overhead, threatening. The vocal screams are torturous, yet the music inviting, and it is this dichotomy that makes the sounds as good as it is. “Tjara” is a three-minute song where it seems like all of the darkness was gathered from the sky and squeezed into one area above your home, forever tainting your experience. It is gloomy, dark, and even frightening. “Tid” enter slowly and steadily, and it’s hard to tell which direction it might take. It just hangs out without committing to either good or evil, until the end, when there is a rise of anger in the vocals.

“Andetag” has more hopeful tones within the music but the vocals are tortured screams once again. It brings up an image of people going about their normal business, and their normal day, while someone in the crowd is screaming, and no one cares. “Inifrån och ut” is another song with strong melodies that are contrasted with horrid vocals. The dichotomy forces the listener to make a decision as to which of the two sounds they might connect with more. It’s very hard to just ride the fence. “Slutna ögon” has a more direct and hardened musical structure, and it matches the harsh vocals. This song represents the darker side of life, and the things that come out after the sky has gone black. “Se mig” is a song that reminds of neither good nor bad, just that grey in between space that so many of us seem to occupy.

“Vår väntan...” hears that expansive grey space stretch out even more. For me, it’s a picture of what most of us working stiffs go through every day…our boring routines. It makes the weekends that much better, but, speaking for myself, I am too tired to enjoy most of them. “Totalitär tomhet” closes the album, and the skies brighten with sunlight through the storm. At the same time, you can feel whatever energy and zest that you might have for life waning. The fact that both of these things are happening at the same time is quite amazing from a musical perspective.

For me, the album cover tells a lot about what kind of music might be waiting for the listener. It’s a picture of a (presumably) dead woman, covered in blood, amidst a soft canopy of grass, and flowers. Maybe it symbolizes the circle of life, because our dead bodies can create rich soil for flowers to grow. Or, maybe, it symbolizes the yin and yang of good and evil, as each requires the other. In the end, it’s something that each of us might interpret differently, and that is the beauty of music.