Dead on sight
The march has begun
Follow the sun
Detroit’s Ritual Howls return with their sixth full-length, Ruin, plunging deeper into their evocative alchemy of industrial rhythms, goth-infused atmospheres, and post-punk angularity. A decade into their spectral career, Ritual Howls have meticulously shaped an album that throbs with raw emotion and dense intrigue, designed for vast, concrete expanses and feverish abandon well past midnight. Ruin embodies their signature duality: bleak yet irresistibly danceable, intimately raw yet elusive and enigmatic.
The album’s lead single Follow the Sun immediately casts an ominous allure, Paul Bancell’s reverberant guitar notes cascading over Chris Samuels’ hypnotic drum programming and Ben Saginaw’s tense, fuzz-laden bass. The track swiftly sets an obsessive tone, exploring themes of overpowering desire, emotional surrender, and nocturnal vulnerability. The refrain conjures imagery of midnight cravings and dangerous dependencies, the kind of visceral longing that splits identities and fuels obsession. As always, Ritual Howls conjure this industrialed Western twang to their music, whose analog lies somewhere between classic acts such as Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Fields of the Nephilim, and Joy Division and The Sisters of Mercy.
Directed by Christopher Samuels and shot by Paul Biundo, the accompanying video, drenched in nostalgic VHS distortion, was filmed at Detroit’s famed City Club, providing an authentic snapshot of Ritual Howls’ live intensity. The visual captures the band’s compelling performance aesthetic, bending modern reality to evoke the stark rawness and fevered rituals of underground club culture from decades past.
“Playing live has always been the core of who we are, the energy we give on stage comes back to us tenfold from the crowd,” says the band.
Watch the video for “Follow the Sun” below:
Ruin distills the stark intensity of post-industrial Detroit into a vivid offering of expansive tracks, threading a tightrope between tension and euphoria, agony and exaltation. It’s a collection designed to envelop listeners in dim corners of industrial clubs, encouraging full surrender to the night’s electric pulse.
Following 2023’s Virtue Falters, vocalist Paul Bancell moved westward to Los Angeles. The geographical shift meant Ruin evolved largely via digital exchanges before finally materializing in Michigan under the meticulous oversight of trusted sound engineer Adam Cox. “Chris would offer beats, melodies, riffs—sometimes whole tracks,” Bancell explains. “He and Ben would get together and jam, and I contributed guitars remotely.” The track What Can I Say stitched together an isolated bass riff and a persistent drum pattern to a melody that haunted him for years. The result testifies powerfully to the group’s synergy, thriving despite separation.
Digging For My Spirit leaps forward on a spirited breakbeat, buoyed by Bancell’s assertive baritone, delivering one of the band’s catchiest choruses yet, framed by faint piano keys and understated harmonies, transcending mere pop appeal. The experimental urgency further shines on Never Leaves You, propelled by thunderous drums, razor-edged guitars, and punctuated synth lines that frame starkly poetic lyrics. The sombre, simmering intensity of Bad Idea rises from a synth-laden gloom into an escalating storm of angular guitar notes and fierce percussion. Enter the Recuser ratchets tension higher, its bass growling through quicksilver transitions before cascading into a vigorous breakdown designed for relentless motion.
Throughout Ruin’s nine chapters, Ritual Howls masterfully harness intricate compositions, inventive rhythms, and profound vocal depth. This album carves a space both stark and serene, feral yet reassuring—a confident declaration from a band operating at peak form.
Listen to Follow the Sun below and pre-order Ruin here.
Ritual Howls will be hitting the road this month. Catch them on the West Coast, the East Coast, and somewhere in between:
- 08/08 San Diego, CA @ Music Box w. Clan of Xymox, Kontravoid
- 08/26 Chicago, IL @ Bowery Ballroom
- 08/29 New York, NY @ Empty Bottle (A Murder of Crows Festival)
- 08/30 Detroit, MI @ Leland City Club
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