Present yourself to the readers
Hi Rock Your Underground, we're Grief Ritual from the South West, UK. We were formed in late 2018 and have subsequently released two five-track EP's 'Life is a Phase' and 'Moments of Suffering'. We've played around fifty shows since our debut, including a slot at Bloodstock Festival 2019 and support slots for the likes of Inter Arma, Heart of a Coward, Lotus Eater, Grove Street Families and Ithaca.
Who composes ?...How does it work in the band ?
We tend to write as a group, but we're all individually responsible for our own parts of the music. We all come from slightly different musical backgrounds so we throw all our ideas and influences into one big melting pot of genres to see what comes out. Generally our guitarist Matt or bassist Silas will come up with a riff and we'll write around that. Our drummer James is really great at contributing his parts and ideas so each of us all make sure to put our thoughts on ideas and potential directions a song could go into the mix until we feel it's what we want.
Who writes the texts ?..What are they talking about ?..How does inspiration come ?
Our vocalist Jamie writes all the lyrics but they are approved by the whole band before we record to ensure everyone is happy with them. The content for both of our releases to date broadly revolve around mental health, anxiety, depression, grief and loss.
Why the name GRIEF RITUAL ?
Grief Ritual is a name that Jamie and Matt have had on their minds for a few years but it's taken until 2018 for it to begin to fully realise what they wished it to be. As a a band we feel that there is some truth in the feeling that everyone experiences grief in their life in many differing ways and life is full of rituals. It's also somewhat tenuously influenced by songs from Fever Dreams and Brotherhood of the Lake but we feel that due to how we feel about the name that it's now taken on it's own meaning due to some personal circumstances that the band members have had to experience.
What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?
Each of us has widely differing tastes when it comes to music but also share certain similarities. There's definitely a love of post-metal, heavy hardcore, black metal, blackened hardcore, powerviolence, shoegaze, modern metal, and grindcore running strongly through the band. Basically, anything super heavy but still interesting and we'll be into it. Due to our tastes we'd say each of our influences differ so you'd get a different answer from each of us but we'd probably agree on the following to a point: Conjurer, Harms Way, Full of Hell, Converge, Behemoth and Leeched.
In studio, what was the atmosphere for your E.P. MOMENTS OF SUFFERING ?...etc.…
Really great. We recorded and mixed the EP with Joe Clayton of the bands Pijn/Leeched and Curse These Metal Hands at No Studio in Manchester and he instantly understood what we were looking to achieve with the recording. Having someone with so much talent and creative ability at our disposal to bounce ideas off was such a boon and if we're honest we don't think it could have gone any better. We're absolutely made up with how the EP sounded and are looking forward to working with Joe again in future.
How does it work for the great design of the CD ? and why this title ?
Jamie our vocalist designed the EP cover and we felt it really fed into the themes that are explored within the songs as well as following on from those in our first EP 'Life is a Phase'. We wanted to use this EP as a chance to show the growth we'd had in the band in the months following the release of our first EP and I feel we've done that. The name 'Moments of Suffering' came from Silas our bassist and it instantly struck a chord with us.
