Ritual Mess
Vile Art

Since 2009 there's this thing called Ritual Mess. As a typical latecomer with music bands, I didn't know them. Never heard their name by chance. How did I discover them? Well, the power of social networks, I suppose. A new post from Birds In Row on Facebook announcing they have accepted to take part in Hellfest. Everyone happy, content, joyful for the Deathwish trio, preparing for a wave-riding 2015 (hype mode on) and in the comments under the post, someone asks if the Orchid seen in the lineup are the ones from Amherst. The cult of screamo pushed to the limits of powerviolence. The legend. Of course not, but someone suggests listening to "Vile Art" by Ritual Mess, which the group members themselves define as the closest imaginable thing to an Orchid reunion. Well, curiosity wins and I dive into the Bandcamp of Clean Plate that released this work in September 2014. I read quickly and now I understand. I may have never heard the band's name, but I have heard of the members. On guitar and production is Will Killingsworth, who with six strings has rewritten pages of the skramz scene with Orchid. Alongside him are two other members of that magnificent group that was and to complete the picture, two more guys from the Ampere join, not exactly newcomers, let's say.

I don’t know if this "Vile Art" is perfect, worthy of five stars or whatever, but the flavor is damn old school. And I love it for that. It transports you to that gruff and angry sound of the early '00s without bothering a Californian city like San Diego and the '90s. I wouldn’t want to go so far, but the vibe is just that. Consider that I’m writing spontaneously with the album in the background (background, so to speak). Eleven schizoid and sick pieces, with beautiful dense and sticky moments like a swamp dragging you down. Have these aged a decade? I can’t tell. Literally zero, zero, zero. Jayson Green has the same hysterical and angry voice from the early days, even when he launches into scornful and rough spoken word. Little breaks in a chaotic confusion that leaves you without references and reminds you of the peaks of a "I Am Nietzche". Soundscapes filled with a certain sense of urgency, alarming and distressing. Is there typically screamo melody? Of course, according to their personal vision that makes it distorted and unhealthy. The delivery is dry and compact, with few concessions and compromises, reserved mostly for the unsettling final outro of "Wasting" that well represents the sentiments of this full-length. Dark breaks and lightning restarts, that’s how Ritual Mass decide to play it. If you’re wondering where all the bands reviving the screamo scene come from, well, in here you’ll have a clear and evident idea.

And so that’s it. Not much more to say, it's the usual (usual, but welcome) fury that distinguished the Orchids, yet transported a few years forward, where Green in his lyrics still channels political and sociological protest but in a less obvious way (in short, no citations from the Frankfurt School), always touching the exposed nerves of his personality, providing a performance that makes anyone who never forgot his over the top and cryptic style rejoice, scratching on rhythms that confirm to be as oppressive and disillusioned as ever. It’s just twenty minutes of typical record, there’s not much to understand, just hit play and let yourself be overwhelmed by the waves of a great project that brings back the glories of Gravity Records and its post-hardcore universe.