192 kbps. Some people seem to prefer the album before this, "Worship Him" - I don't exactly know why. Perhaps it's just nostalgia? I believe that their most atmospheric recordings are their demos, actually, although "Worship Him" keeps a little bit of that rawness, but I think it's handicapped right at the start by an inferior opening song. "Blood Ritual" was one of those albums that took me a long time to get into when I first bought it. At the time (1992), it didn't really sound like anything else I was listening to. I didn't know what to make of it. Over the years it has grown on me and I've found many things to enjoy here...most of all the crystal-clear production, powerful guitar sound, and the rock-solid songwriting...which, one must admit, does slip into the mundane every now and then. Still, Samael started as a band that was perhaps a little too obviously influenced by Hellhammer...they were able to work their "first" style here into something that got them signed to Century Media. Of course right after this they started changing...so the remnants of their first style that still spoke out as "traditional metal" on "Ceremony of Opposites" find their true fruition and completion here. One can think of that later album as "Blood Ritual" sped up and adorned with additional experimental "influences" if one wanted to. Dark, slow, stately, ritualistic, simplistic, immensely heavy black metal. Also: many, many people mention this and the former album as being "black metal classics" or something of that sort, but I can't think of a single band these days that shows that influence plainly and openly. Perhaps because it would be too apparent?
http://www.mediafire.com/?nu0yz2ojziz
