Ritual

Unbroken were one of the most important hardcore bands of the nineties. They are best known for their seminal second album, "Live.Love.Regret.". That album was at the forefront of a new style of metallic hardcore, one that was darker, moodier and slower than most of what came before. It was such an important record that the debut album, "Ritual", is overlooked and overshadowed. This isn’t helped by the fact that several members of the band have stated their dislike for this record in retrospective interviews. They seem to have nothing positive to say about it. The reality is more measured. This is a good hardcore album with some decent songs and a hard, crunchy sound. It isn’t seminal, progressive or innovative, but it is fine for what it is.

The first thing you will notice (assuming you are familiar with Unbroken) is how different this sounds to the band’s other material. There isn’t much of the screaming, chaotic, octave-chord-laden sound here. Neither is there much of a metal influence. There is, however, a big dose of NYHC (which is amusing considering the band is from San Diego). I assume Judge were a major influence, perhaps alongside Killing Time and Breakdown. The music is significantly faster than their later material. It has the standard up-tempo style that was common in late 80s hardcore. There is a big, fat bass sound (typical of the style), and the vocalist sounds like a gruffer version of Lou Koller from Sick of it All.

Unbroken were good at this style. There is plenty of energy and spontaneity here, it sounds like the band had little time to overdo things in the studio. This is a good thing for music like this. It leads to some mistimed drums (e.g., the beginning of “My Time”) and riffs that have little space to breathe (e.g., “Zero Hour”). There is plenty of urgency throughout, and the rough hewn production is appropriate for this kind of music. Occasionally, you’ll hear echoes of what the band would become, a screaming ‘emotive’ part, a rushed harmonic note, or a short proto-metallic divebomb (these signs are only notable with the benefit of hindsight).

The biggest problem with this record is it being a few years behind the times (it came out in 1993). This was probably a source of frustration for the band, who felt they had already moved beyond this kind of music when the album was released. For me, it shows that great bands (rarely) become great bands overnight. There are usually subtle signs of greatness before the artistic breakthrough. That is certainly the case with Unbroken. "Ritual" might not be an essential record, but it is heavy, direct and real. It is also much better than the band would lead you to expect.