Review: The Ritual Aura – Heresirach

Style: Progressive/Technical Death Metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Faceless, Obscura
Review by: Zach
Country: Australia
Release date: 10 November, 2023

The Ritual Aura were a band that, in my opinion, never quite got it. Debut Laniakea was a short, sweet, techy affair that left me hopeful for their future career, and Taether was the nearly 80-minute monster that dashed those hopes. Both albums featured some insane guitar work by L. Dalek, the brains behind the band, but the structure and pacing held them back. 2019’s Velothi saw them heading in a much proggier, tighter direction, but its all too brief runtime and general lack of cohesion still made me a bit sour.

I was excited for Heresiarch, but I didn’t expect it to blow me away. Now, with a completely new lineup aside from Dalek and a plethora of guests, I can safely say The Ritual Aura have finally got it. I’ve been rooting for these boys for so long now, because they were always on the cusp of greatness; finally, they present an album worthy of their insane talents.

And what insane talent they have. Dalek’s riffs are now intermingled with Brandon J. Iacovella’s (Tomarum, Proliferation, Lunar Chamber), a recent entry into my guitar idol hall-of-fame. Fretless bass dances and swirls around everything from neoclassical shredding to riffs that remind me more of Vildhjarta than tech-death. Plaguebringer’s Dario Irvine screeches lyrics probably inspired by anime or video games and makes them sound like the shadow of death rolling over the hills of a medieval battlefield. The Ritual Aura have always been a bunch of fuckin’ nerds, and they have seemed to finally work that into their music well. 

However, the album has a few unexpected tricks up its sleeve that I wasn’t ready for. Clearly, Dalek’s learned a ton about how to pace an album over the years, and that’s a major reason why this is a step above the previous releases. With a fourteen- and fifteen-minute song taking up the majority of Heresiarch’s runtime, the album still feels much shorter than it actually is. The introduction of more classical sections is a welcome change to break up the onslaught of tech-death this album throws at you.

In a strange twist of fate, The Ritual Aura has almost evolved into what I can only describe as a dark fantasy story in aural form. The gloomy, gothic atmosphere that ‘Hope’s Light’ starts this album with never goes away. So many of the slower, softer sections sound like the soundtrack of early Castlevania and Zelda games, with ‘The New Plague’ into ‘Unholy Nadir’ highlighting The Ritual Aura’s newfound abilities. Like Dessiderium, these boys have clearly studied the art of the JRPG soundtrack and implemented that into their songwriting.

On top of it all, they’ve somehow managed to break the cliche that is sax in tech death. There are only two sax moments on the album, and they both took me by surprise as a welcome addition. Despite having basically a whole orchestra of guest musicians all playing their wacky instruments that don’t naturally belong in tech-death, all of it folds seamlessly into the music. Ryan Cho’s violin deserves special mention, as unlike peers Ne Obliviscaris and Massen, it appears rarely and adds to that gothic, From Software-esque atmosphere that persists throughout Heresiarch.

As much as I am singing the praises of this work, it’s not a perfect album. The production still feels a little thin, and Szymon Mikosz’s fretless bass gets buried underneath the wall of guitars, especially when they start shredding at four thousand BPM. Some of the transitions do feel a little wonky, but I can easily write that off with how interesting the album keeps things.

The Ritual Aura have continued experimenting and expanding with their sound when most bands would just stay stagnant. Finally, with the amount of hard work they’ve put in between Velothi and now, they’ve gotten to reap the benefits of creating something great. Heresiarch’s not a perfect album by any means, but I feel that they’ve finally undergone the anime training arc, and come out with some major character development.

Recommended tracks: Heresiarch suite, The New Plague, Devourment Knell
You may also like: Aethereus, Arkaik, Dessiderium, Stortregn
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: The Artisan Era – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

The Ritual Aura is:
– L. Dalek (guitars, piano, Ebow, songwriting, lyrics)
– Brandon J. Iacovella (guitars, vocals, songwriting)
– Szymon Milosz (bass)

– KC Brand (drums)

– Dario Irvine (vocals)