BIOGRAPHY
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The story begins back in 2010 when former members of Imagika and Eldritch formed Kill Ritual. The band was one that took its traditional Heavy Metal influences and then blended and molded them into a very powerful, modernized machine. The music of Kill Ritual has always been very guitar-oriented, courtesy of axe-slinger and founder Steven D. Rice. He has been the singular, constant presence in the band since its inception. In 2012 Kill Ritual issued their debut album The Serpentine Ritual’ (Scarlet Records) to much critical acclaim and positive acceptance. The band toured the US twice on the release. That was followed by the 2014 effort The Eyes Of Medusa’ (Golden Core/ZYX) which once again garnered the band increased attention, accolades and again was followed with as US tour. The band started work on the follow ‘Karma Machine’, an album produced by Steven and mixed/mastered by the legendary Andy La Rocque (King Diamond). The band once again toured the US and also made their European debut alongside NWOBHM legends Raven. February 2018 they released the bands 4th album, titled ‘All Man Shall Fall’ and started a massive North American tour with Iced Earth and Sanctuary to much success.
After the North American tour, Kill Ritual enlisted new vocalist Brian “Chalice” Betterton (Dirt) who brings a broad, metallic vocal range that is emblematic of the bands classic and current metal style. Screams from hell to classic rock and metal voices all came to light in the band's fifth album, "The Opaque And The Divine", released March 27th, 2020. The album was received well by the rock press, with many praising the tight rhythm section and newfound creative success brought to the band by Chalice's wide vocal range and timbre. This success would earn the band a brand new partnership and signing with Blood Blast Distribution, a digital distribution subsidiary of Nuclear Blast Records.
World events would have other plans for the upcoming future, and with the manifestation of COVID-19 around the world in the same month of the album's release, the subsequent tour would be delayed for an indefinite amount of time.
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Even though a supporting tour still hasn't happened for the band's fifth release, they decided to use the down time to their advantage. Following the completion of their fifth album, the band still had a sizable amount of material that was previously finished by Rice and Gleason during the "Opaque And The Divine" sessions from 2019 in Sweden. In August of 2020, the band congregated in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to round off the vocals to the instrumental tracks that were completed a year earlier, and after three days, another new album was completely finished. The band released the five-song EP "Thy Will Be Done" in 2021 to much acclaim from the rock press. With the pandemic still gripping the world in 2022 and with Rice having another full album's worth of material ready to go, the band recorded the next album "Killstar, Black Mark, Dead Hand, Pierced Heart" from different parts of the country and signed with Massacre Records for the next release. The album will be released on 2022/10/28, and the pre-order link is below:
https://lnk.to/killstarblackmarkdeadhandpiercedheart
KILL RITUAL is:
Steven D. Rice - Guitars, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Chalice - Vocals
Seamus Gleason - Drums
David Alusik - Bass
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