Review by Norbert on January 29, 2026.

Although the band's "In Nomine..." and "Panta Rhei" are also good music, I am going to write a review of Ritus Orgy, because this album is the most closely associated with gothic metal, and I am a gothic metal fan. Since I don't have any religious background myself, I won't discuss the lyrics. I don't discuss politics either; I don't care what country they are from, I just enjoy their music.

The re-released version of this album is available for download on Bandcamp and consists of two parts: the first is a reissued version of the 1997 album Ritus Orgy, and the second part is the original version of Ritus Orgy - the 1996 demo Thou Humankind. In this music review, we mainly talk about the first part, because it is an evolved version of the second part.

As mentioned before, this is a gothic metal album, or more precisely, a gorgeous, romantic, and wicked gothic black metal album. In this album, the lead singer mainly uses an evil, tortured black metal shriek, occasionally using a death metal growl, and other singers who participated in the recording of the album used female voices, male clean vocals, spoken words, and whispers. The guitar part is mainly composed of thrash metal riffs and black metal tremolos, and the sound is thick, but due to the flaws of the recording, it is not always clear and powerful. The pace of riffs is medium-to-fast, although some riffs are not so good; they are overshadowed by the fine arrangement. The melodies of electric guitars are generally wicked and gorgeous, with the occasional light melodies with a Central European flavour, like those included in Beltaine's old album "Bohemian Winter". There are also some dissonant intervals or off-tones. The bass is inconspicuous but clear and heavy. The drums are mostly fast, sometimes with black metal snares, sometimes with furious blast beats, sometimes with fast double kicking, and in some slower passages, they also perform well. The keyboards are very gorgeous, with a very brilliant performance, a rich timbre, and a good melody, sometimes very clear and playing a leading role, sometimes hidden behind the heavy guitars, setting off the evil and dark atmosphere. On recording, the album is not so good compared to In Nomine... and Panta Rhei, but it still presents fine arrangements and rich details. As for the song writing, this album is more melodic than its predecessor In Nomine..., but elements are richer with the song structures slightly simplified.

Highlight songs include: 'The Will To Rule', which opens with beautiful female vocals, and the solo at 1:33 is evil and fast. In the previous work, In Nomine... the band used a similar style of solos to create an ancient-ritual-like evil atmosphere. 'Siécles Noire' is a short but good song, opening with a beautiful medieval folk keyboard, followed by a female voice and a black metal shriek interpreting the beauty of gothic metal, and this song also has a gorgeous solo in the middle, a clever bass at the end. Thou Humankind has a long, interesting intro filled with beautiful keyboard tones and wicked black metal tremolo passages, with a piano intensifying the icy feel when approaching the end of the song, which marches from the bass to the midrange, showcasing the band's deep classical roots. 'Funeral Of My Own I' is one of my favorites, in the intro the piano and electric guitar take turns to play the same motive to build and reinforce the emotions, followed by the longest and most beautiful female vocal in this album, and this song also has the richest arrangement, the most romantic atmosphere, and the saddest emotion. 'Circle Of Witches' doesn't start impressively, but the following elaborate arrangement is very interesting, with a beautiful and fast guitar melody in the first climax passage, which is sublimated again after 4:15 to surprise the listeners. 'Heretic' is the shortest song (if we don't concern about the instrumental interludes) with almost no female vocals, the rhythm being also very simple, but it has the most beautiful melody in this album (and the band rearranged this song on the later album Panta Rhei, replacing riffs with black metal tremolo melodies, both the two versions sound well.)

In short, the album's strength lies in its rich arrangements, and its disadvantage lies mainly in its slightly flawed recordings. But that's not to say that the songwriting has no problems at all. For example, there is a black metal picking passage in the middle of the song 'Corpus De La Christi', but there is no nice melody or innovative keyboards (or inaudible due to flaws in the recording), and it is not until the female voice appears at the end that the boring atmosphere is saved. Besides, the piano intro of the song 'Visage Of A Degenerated' is great, but later this song falls into mediocrity with few highlights.

Recommended for gothic black metal fans who like Cradle Of Filth, Moonspell, or Graveworm, especially if you like gorgeous keyboard arrangements, beauty-and-beast style singing, this album will definitely suit your taste.

Rating: 8.7 out of 10