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Music

PREMIERE: Gaze Into Reunited NOLA Black Metal Supergroup Ritual Killer's "Feral Eyes"

Don't call it a Goatwhore side project.

Photo by Mike Holderby

Rumors of a Ritual Killer reunion have been circulating for years, perhaps not quite as persistently as those perpetual (and probably forever unresolved) rumors about Acid Bath, but certainly long enough for the announcement of the band's upcoming new album to pique plenty of interest. With the original three members—vocalist Jordan Barlow, guitarist Sammy Duet, and drummer Zak Nolan—now joined by James Harvey on bass, the project may have morphed into Goatwhore side project simply by dint of its membership roll, but Ritual Killer adheres to a much stricter formula than its anthemic brother band, churning out fast, ugly, no-bullshit black metal with moments of gibbering madness. Unlike so many of their peers in the Big Easy, there's nothing doomy, or sludgy, or swampy about Ritual Killer—that is, unless you're looking for something to rattle your headphones as you drag bodies into the bayou on the next moonlit night.

We're premiering a new track off their upcoming sophomore album, Exterminance, which comes out September 18 on Season of Mist (preorders are up here). The wild-eyed "Feral Eyes" roils around a dirty Hellhammer-on-speed rif, Barlow's bilious gurgles adding fuel to the black flame.

Kim Kelly's gone feral on Twitter - @grimkim