Artoffact Records presents the March 9th release of Doom, the first full-length album by Ritualz.
Stream new track "To Black," from Doom, and preorder digital, vinyl, CD:
https://ritualz.bandcamp.com/album/doom
Ritualz is the one-man army of producer/vocalist JC Lobo. Born, raised, and based in Mexico City, Lobo launched Ritualz in 2010 and ascended quickly – by 2012, iconic streetwear brand Mishka had released his third EP, Hypermotion X, and heavy world touring followed, including shows with the likes of HEALTH and Prayers.
A long break in 2014 set the stage for the next chapter. Lobo began developing a new sound, breaking with the past to create the new incarnation of Ritualz. Now, six years after Hypermotion X, Lobo returns with an album that overshadows all previous work: the debut Ritualz full-length, Doom.
Doom was recorded and mixed entirely by Lobo at apartments in Mexico City and Paris, and mastered by Martin Bowes (Nine Inch Nails, Psychic TV, Front Line Assembly).
Murky and unsettling, Doom is an album of cryptic pop songs – emotional and anthemic songs under a blanket of fog. Lobo defines the music only in the broadest terms: "dark electronic" is as specific as he chooses to get. He references only the biggest, most legendary figureheads of industrial-influenced pop and rock when naming inspirations behind this new work: Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode. But in fact, Doom is a vivid representation of Lobo's own, specific, personal vision. The album's eleven songs are a portal to Lobo's world: a dream-state, shrouded in gloom, marked by minimal beats, synth hooks in conflict with dissonant layers, and soulful vocals buried in the mix.
Lobo claims Doom is quite literally an album about "meeting your doom." He elaborates: "Some of the songs are about the feeling of hopelessness from being alive in this time. Some songs are a bit more fantastical – they're like short stories." "To Black" is a song about "dying and going to hell and enjoying it." Other songs tell tales of a prisoner of war giving in to a ritual sacrifice, and a mental patient tormented by ghosts.
Already acclaimed in underground circles, Ritualz will jump to the next level with Doom, a moving and memorable album that blurs lines between pop and the darkest forms of electronic music.
Stream "To Black" via Apple Music:
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/doom/1331936281
Stream "To Black" via Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6GcI63F1IXvdIxZk8dyqhz
Preorder Doom via iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/doom/1331936281
Tracklist:
1) Trash Mental
2) To Black
3) Journey
4) Rats
5) Spazz
6) Agony
7) Echoes
8) Lust Eternal
9) Doom
10) Pig
11) The Last of Us
Lineup:
JC Lobo - all vocals, instruments, production
Discography:
Doom (2018, Artoffact Records)
Outworld compilation (2014, Maligna Records)
Hypermotion X EP (2012, Mishka)
Split w/ Fostercare (2011, Robot Elephant Records)
Ghetto Ass Witch EP (2011, self-released)
Ritualz EP (2010, Disaro Records)
Live:
Mar 9 - Mexico City, MX @ Foro Bizarro
Mar 22 - San Diego, CA @ Space Bar
Mar 23 - Los Angeles, CA @ Das Bunker
Mar 29 - San Francisco, CA @ Elbo Room
April 1 - Vancouver, BC @ Astoria
Artoffact Records 2018 label sampler:
Photo by Daniela Quant
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