With a name like Ritual Howls, you probably know off the bat what you’re getting. The Detroit trio of Paul Bancell, Ben Saginaw, and Chris Samuels aren’t interested in festival-ready gang shouting—the ritual howls of our time—so much as rites of purity. The trio’s new album, Into the Water, which is out August 19 on felte, is driven by that very idea—if you submerge yourself, do you come back cleaner and purer? Or is there something deeper in humanity that’s more difficult to erase?
Somewhat paradoxically, the concept of the dark and irredeemable human soul has always made for fine dance music, as everyone from Joy Division to Pretty Hate Machine–era Nine Inch Nails have demonstrated to almost comic effect. “Spirit Murder,” the Into the Water track we’re premiering this morning, isn’t nearly as interested in the upside-down rave as, say, “Terrible Lie,” but it does share a certain kinship with the former band circa “Disorder”—it’s staring into the eyes of the abyss and choosing to do the hip shake, babe, not out of a commitment to joy over all else, but because it might as well be the last thing you do before you give in. Give a listen, then check out Into the Water’s track list and album art below.
Into the Water track list
Into the Water is out August 19 on felte.
