THINK LIKE A MOUNTAIN

Now..imagine a band....from the north (they´re swede´s)..... unite the sound of Led Zep (at their most acoustic)..then add some Dream theater.... plus some original swedish prog.!! There you have it: Ritual !!! This is a GREAT album...with every thing a progfan could ask for....... great songs...fabulous instrumentation....good idea´s ..and a lot of balls!! Whooooaa...Ritual...listen to those guys!!! I dare you, to not like them........I bought mine one afternoon... got home put it on......WHHOOAAAAAA....say what!!???? The sound coming out of those speakers......i had to go back.... look at the cover...sure enough..it..was..Ritual!! They are special..they are great...they are something to notice. GO GET THEM!!!

I've been a fan of RITUAL since their splendid self-titled debut on the Musea label in 1995. I even liked their not-that-much-talked-about "Superb Birth" album from 2000. Patrik Lundström is a wonderful vocalist who also sang on the comeback album "Notes From The Past" from the Swedish progressive veterans KAIPA. "Think Like A Mountain" is RITUAL's third full-length album. RITUAL's music is complex and they tastefully blend acoustic and electric instruments. There are reminiscences to The FLOWER KINGS, GENTLE GIANT, JETHRO TULL, LED ZEPPELIN, YES, and influences from Swedish folk music. RITUAL has created a unique sound and actually they aren't comparable to any other band. To categorize them as progressive rock isn't entirely correct either. Some of the highlights are the opening track "What Are You Waiting For", "Humble Decision", "Once The Tree Would Bloom", the title track "Think Like A Mountain", "Moomin Took My Head" (they seem to be big admirers of the Moomin trolls as the first CD also contained a track inspired by Tove Jansson's characters) and "Infinite Justice". It's hard to talk about favorite tracks when the album is filled with great songs. So far RITUAL has never let me down. They're one of the best bands in Sweden regardless the genre and they deserves all the recognition they can get.

Sweden is definitely a country of real prog-talents.

R emarkable I nspiring T remendous U nique A wesome L uminous

If there had been no Kaipa with Patrick Lundstrom on vocals, I would have never found out about Ritual. Yeah, to my shame, only after having listened to Kaipa (with Patrick’s amazing vocals) I bought Think Like A Mountain – the third release by the band, which should not be omitted in no circumstances.

No one has such talent to play eclectic prog as Ritual has. Patrick and Co plays one of the best progressive rock music I have ever heard – their music is VERY individual and unique.

Think Like A Mountain, to my thinking, is Ritual’s most mature and cohesive album so far. I like all the songs and nothing is out of place here. What Are You Waiting For (9/10) is a very good opener for Think Like A Mountain – quick-moving and active start plus catching chorus. Humble Decision (10/10) is one of my favourite Ritual songs, it has nice violins (or what? :-) ) during heartfelt chorus. Explosive Paste (10+/10) is even better – it’s the song with hard-rock flavour, a sudden change in the middle of the song (this moment makes me weak, really) and an amazing slide-guitar solo. Once The Tree Would Bloom (10/10) is an acoustic song, which reminds me of good Led Zeppelin days, but also this song has a folk-rock blowing. Mother You’ve Been Gone For Much Too Long (9/10) is a great track, but it is, as a matter of fact, much too long :-) Think Like A Mountain (10/10) is a mad track (one of Ritual’s best songs) - very quick and psychedelic rhythm with different sound and distorted vocals. Moomin Took My Head (9/10) is a nice song with a lot of mellotron and funny guitar-effects. Infinite Justice (9.5/10) is, again, with hard-rockish guitars and wonderful chorus. On (9/10) is a wild acoustic song with flute, which really makes me imagine different tribes making their rituals and ceremonials :-) Shamanarama (8/10) is my least favourite song from the album – I suppose the song is a bit forced and not on the same level with the previous songs, but overall it’s quite good. Breathing (9.5/10) is a very beautiful track with a heart-rending guitar solo (which reminds me of Yes’ Soon a bit). Off (-/10) – I wouldn’t rate this song, because actually it is not a song, but just strange sounds, which close the album.

If you have never heard of Ritual, Think Like A Mountain is worth checking for certain. You can like it or not, but all in all, Think Like A Mountain is one of the best progressive rock albums of 00’s, so don’t miss it out.

Classifying this Swedish quartet as 'crossover prog' is like calling GENTLE GIANT 'prog related': rock music doesn't get much more proggy than Ritual. And the band's third studio album (in a ten-year span: these guys certainly aren't in the same overachieving league as their fellow Swede compatriots in THE FLOWER KINGS) is almost as good as their 1995 debut, showing the same strong melodic instincts and even more assertive musicianship.

In style the music ranges from lighthearted acoustic folk, often inspired by the children's fantasy literature of Tove Jansson (by way of GENTLE GIANT: see 'Moomin Took My Head'), to punchy electric Neo-Prog. This particular effort leans more toward the latter: thus the nervous Middle Eastern rhythms of the energetic album opener 'What Are You Waiting For', and the lush symphonic sweep of 'Humble Decision'. Adding real strings to 'Mother You've Been Gone Too Long' does nothing to compromise the song's evocative strength, and the 'Lark's Tongues in Aspic' power chords in the chorus of 'Infinite Justice' might have been borrowed from ANEKDOTEN, another thoroughbred in the crowded Swedish Prog Rock stable.

The album's only miscalculation is the plodding 'Explosive Paste', a song that unfortunately lives down to its clumsy title. At least the track is immediately followed by the more whimsical 'Once the Tree Would Bloom', in which the busy acoustic guitars, hand-held percussion, and ethnic woodwinds bring out the band's deep Scandinavian folk music roots, but without the expected northern latitude melancholy. And in the end the aptly titled 'Off' closes the album on a note of near ambient elegance, with a simple melody played on a single, muted synthesizer.

In summary: it's another outstanding effort from one of the hidden gems in the Prog Archives database, a band still waiting to be discovered by a lot of potential fans (judging from the relative scarcity of reviews so far: only 34 to date for their initial three albums, compared to 240 for the first three from the Flower Kings).

As the title of the album opener here says, What Are You Waiting For?

I found this band just thanks to the 21st century lineup of the swedish legends Kaipa. As people may know, Patrick Lundstrom, voice, guitar and soul of Ritual also sings in Kaipa. If you listen to his voice maybe you will understand why I use the word soul.

Think Like A Mountain is their third album, and I find that it's their best effort along with their last work, The Hemulic Voluntary Band. This music may not be excessively complex, nor sybaritic, it is focused on the songs, on expression, with a progressive approach and point of view. They love harmonies and precios arrangements, with tasty use of acoustic instruments and crunchy guitars and deep rhyhtm section. Music is complex enough just to entertain the expert listener but direct enough to be interesting for most of the people.

As I said before, Patrick's voice is a highlight, his pitch is so special, it reaches so deep in heart and mind. Delicious songs like the opening What Are You Waiting For, the trascendental Humble Decision, more agressive is Explosive Paste, dreaming and floating is Mother You've Gone Much Too Long, folkies like Moomin' Took My Head or On. My favourite all along the record is Infinite Justice, it just blows you away.

A really great record!

This is RITUAL's third studio album released in 2003. As others have mentioned the vocalist also sang on KAIPA's comeback album and the guy certainly can sing, the problem for me is that i'm not really a fan of his voice. Besides the usual instruments we get whistles, hammered dulcimer, bouzouki, recorders, violin, cello and more.

"What Are You Waiting For" sounds like World Music to start with some of those more obscure instruments.That changes quickly as bass, drums and guitar kick in then vocals. A calm 2 1/2 minutes in then back to that full sound. "Humble Decision" is mellow with vocals but it does get fuller as these contrasts continue. A violin solo comes in after 2 minutes. "Explosive Paste" is a top three tune for me as we get a fairly heavy sound here with vocals. Cool tune. "Once The Tree Would Bloom" features intricate sounds, vocals and a beat. Flute 3 minutes in. "Mother You've Been Gone For Much Too Long" opens with outbursts of sound as vocals come in. It settles back as the vocals continue. A change 3 minutes in as an intense instrumental section arrives. Strings 5 1/2 minutes in as it settles then that earlier soundscape returns.

"Think Like A Mountain" is another top three track.The vocals sound different here and I love the bass especially when the organ joins in around 3 minutes. "Mooman Took My Head" is one I can't get into at all.The piano and vocals are the focus early on. "Infinite Justice" is the final top three song for me. I just like how heavy it is, but that is contrasted with the lighter sections throughout. "On" is a World Music flavoured instrumental. "Shamanarama" kics in quickly with vocals. It's not bad. "Breathing" is mellow with reserved vocals. It's fuller a minute in as contrasts continue. "Off" is a short mellow piece to end the album.

I would think the majority of Prog fans would find lots to like here.

Basically a nightmare to review!

There's alot going on. A lot of creativity, some interesting rhythms, which ultimately tend to dominate proceedings, the usual Swedish eccentricity, and all of which is within the confines of Ritual's sound!

Where it fails, is that no thought appears to have been made about putting the songs together in a cohesive album! It's all over the place!

I also found it difficult to warm to. It's almost like an album without heart.

Ultimately, the creativity and the rhythms make it worthy of a listen, and it's not a bad album at all. But it could have been better. I had to persevere simply because it WAS Ritual.