{"id":138655,"date":"2025-09-12T13:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T13:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/138655\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T13:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T13:17:07","slug":"ritual-mass-cascading-misery-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/138655\/","title":{"rendered":"Ritual Mass – Cascading Misery Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It\u2019s difficult to enter a conversation about death doom without thinking, at least once, of Incantation<\/a>. Or Autopsy<\/a>. Or Asphyx<\/a>. Or any number of other acts in between. But not many of them choose \u201cChristian Mysticism\u201d as their primary theme. Here enters Pittsburg death doom upstarts Ritual Mass, primed to unleash their debut slab of biblical horrors Cascading Misery upon this God-fearing world. One can only wonder what fresh Hell this tome holds.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, I know what fresh hell this holds, and it is nasty. With serrated tones and a cavernous boom, Cascading Misery reeks of the same rotted death Incantation made a sensation, doomed and dour in pace and attitude. Yet, it is monstrous, bloodthirsty, and quintessentially evil at the same time, in the same way Replicant<\/a> often is (\u201cFrozen Marrow\u201d). In six songs spread across 40 minutes, Cascading Misery portrays Ritual Mass as a capable, confident purveyor of anguish trained in the ways of olde death, twisted by the corrupted lore of hellish origin. A lack of distinct identity holds them back, though, as much of this material feels and sounds all too deeply rooted in methods and modes trademarked by the aforementioned legendary acts. Maybe this lands Ritual Mass into the worshipping class of modern revivals, but there\u2019s much potential here for growth and distinction as they develop their sound further.<\/p>\n

Cascading Misery by Ritual Mass<\/a><\/p>\n

Much of this potential lies in funereal closer \u201cDisquiet\u201d and blistering tear \u201cCascading Misery.\u201d In the former\u2014a 14 minute epic of glacial, stripped down doom book-ended by vicious death freakouts\u2014Ritual Mass showcase an unexpected tenderness that belies the violence of the beast that raged relentlessly for 30 minutes prior. This tenderness brings in a new voice, an unexpected dynamic that pulls me into a deep void of sorrow, a kind of sorrow that changes my entire perception of what this record seemed to be up to that point. Consequently, when it breaks in the third quarter into a desperate, screeching howl, I\u2019m not stricken with fear and terror. I\u2019m instead flooded with sympathy and a desire to hold close this wounded creature before me. On the opposite side of the same coin, \u201cCascading Misery\u201d shreds through flesh, bone, and gristle with a maddened fervor, mercilessly terrorizing everyone and destroying everything around it. A ferocious spirit possesses that track, one that nobody on Earth or in any afterlife could ever hope to quell or heal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This duality roiling within a single tortured entity is the core of Cascading Misery to these ears, and it\u2019s what Ritual Mass needs to capitalize on further in order to stand out in a crowded musical space. Outside of an outstanding drum performance that routinely elevates every moment of Cascading Misery, it simply takes too long for this debut to showcase something remarkable. The first three tracks lack distinguishing characteristics, both from the cavernous genre that they occupy and within the microcosm of the record itself. Generic riffs, monotonous song structures, and relatively dull doom passages conspire to undermine those great ideas and ample substance contained inside Cascading Misery\u2019s strongest material. This, ultimately, is an issue of consistency. In many ways, Cascading Misery is a perfectly competent, even good record based solely on what\u2019s offered in the first half. However, in light of the presence and clever creativity that characterizes the second half, that perfect competence doesn\u2019t feel so perfect anymore. Instead, it feels like more than just a few missed opportunities.<\/p>\n

All things taken into account, Cascading Misery is difficult to rate. On the one hand, Ritual Mass offers a nasty slab of doomed death that deviates modestly, but still notably, away from the stereotypical subject matter. On the other, they don\u2019t take full advantage of their creative juices, choosing to saturate the second half with killer ideas and leaving the first half a bit malnourished. The optimist in me believes wholeheartedly that this only means Ritual Mass left plenty of room for them to grow for their sophomore effort. Let us pray that this turns out to be the case!<\/p>\n

Rating: Mixed
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb\/s mp3
Label: 20 Buck Spin<\/a>
Website: ritualmass.bandcamp.com\/music<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: September 5th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s difficult to enter a conversation about death doom without thinking, at least once, of Incantation. Or Autopsy.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[17736,74928,975,10734,39242,977,49,48,74929,74930,978,25321,75,981,341,74931,208,209,74932,65454],"class_list":{"0":"post-138655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-2-5","9":"tag-20-buck-spin","10":"tag-975","11":"tag-american-metal","12":"tag-asphyx","13":"tag-autopsy","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-cascading-misery","17":"tag-death-doom","18":"tag-death-metal","19":"tag-doom-metal","20":"tag-entertainment","21":"tag-incantation","22":"tag-music","23":"tag-replicant","24":"tag-review","25":"tag-reviews","26":"tag-ritual-mass","27":"tag-sep25"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}