Ritual – Glimpsed from the Story of Mr Bogd Review

It’s amazing what a job like this can do for you. The last review I wrote was about a Death Metal band with all its aggressive features and combinations. Now I have a Prog Rock band that gathers all the best features from the 1970s peers of the genre. Ritual sounds a lot like Kansas, Yes and Jethro Tull at times. “Glimpsed from the Story of Mr Bogd” is a very well produced and performed EP with all the nuances and details Prog Rock bands love and cherish. Opening track “Chichikov Bogd” shows it very well in its four minute travel around 1970s Prog Rock features. For the ones who knows and share with me the taste for this kind of music, “Chichikov Bogd” is very exciting. Prog Rock sometimes sounds like a chess match because it is the cerebral kind of music. It’s something you have to like to understand all the details and references the band has to show.

Though Heavy Metal and Prog Rock share many features, the way they do it is a bit different. Metal seeks for aggression and rebellion though with a musical compound; Prog Rock seeks for a musical compound in the aggression and rebellion. Even the distortion is used in a diferente way. For Metal music the distortion is mandatory due to the aggressive desired effect; Prog Rock uses it but only in the cases to show the aggression. A different approach however with the same outcomes. In the past, Prog Rock was known for having an open mind for musical references as it is possible to check out in “The Three Heads of the Well” which combines a classical guitar with some oriental features or the delicate “The Mice” with its sweet features and combination of acoustic and a slightly overdriven guitar.

It’s great to know that there is a whole new generation of Prog Rock bands coming up. Not only the crossovers but the real deal. The contribuition its musicians give to music is really great and the finesse within is very well welcomed as well. “Glimpsed from the Story of Mr Bogd” is an album that proves that the genre is alive and well.

Ritual “Glimpsed from the Story of Mr Bogd” will be released on November 27th via Tempus Fugit / SPV.

Track Listing:

  1. Chichikov Bogd
  2. Mr. Tilly and His Gang
  3. The Three Heads of the Well
  4. The Mice

Watch “Chichikov Bogd” official lyric video here:

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