In Which the Writer Loses His Cool
This song is so fucking energetic, I’m tempted to write the review in all caps.
DOGDAD describes themselves as “A band desperate to be used in an anime intro.” And, frankly, short of singing in Japanese, they nailed it.
I mean, god damn, y’all, there’s more energy from 0:00 to 0:01 in Ritual than entire songs from other bands. Excellent for fans of, as DOGDAD said, anime OSTs, but also Jon Bellion, Viagra Boys, every YouTuber who does the crazy-clean-but-also-shredding-somehow thing, Panic at the Disco!, Motorhead, man, I don’t know, everybody. This track rules.
The vocals drive the train here mostly, switching between a not-exactly-screaming vocal and some clean singing for the chorus, both of which are executed flawlessly. The drums are boomy and exciting, and this song, while full of intricate guitar lines and plenty of breaks, grooves hard. At a brisk 2:55, you may as well queue it three times to save yourself the trouble of having to manually go back.
I don’t live in Texas, let alone Austin, but if they don’t tour soon, I may have to saddle up and get down there for a show.
Last thing, if DOGDAD plays in DADGAD tuning, that’s the second-best pun for a band name in human history—eclipsed only by the Beatles.
Written by Willow Stonebeck
