Testament - doing what they do best.
Where the previous album, "Souls of Black" was a little bit rushed and poorly produced, The Ritual put the band Testament back in form at the level of their previous album.

The album also sees the band changing their sound a little bit, slowing the tempo down. Return to Serenity is much like Testament's version of the Clansman (or maybe the other way around as it came first) and is an awesome song with great guitar work, Electric Crown is the band's version of You've Got Another Coming, songs like So Many Lies and The Ritual show the band experiementing with slower but still heavy sounds.

Only downside is nothing on this album is as fast as the pace of the previous four albums.

just something I can't name
The Ritual seems to be the album that really bums out Testament fans and thrash fans. Perhaps I'm not a thrash metal fan after all, but I still marvel at some of the moments on this admittedly slower album by my favorite metal band of all time. Skolnick wrote a good portion of this album in major keys -- avoiding the typical minors that dominated metal of the time. The time signatures also slowed down, mostly due to his interest in complexity and layering. But it's hard for me to find things wrong with ELECTRIC CROWN, SO MANY LIES, THE RITUAL, DEADLINE, TROUBLE DREAMS, and the perfection of RETURN TO SERENITY, which includes the greatest solo Skolnick composed for the band.

The filler has become more obvious to me over the years (The Sermon & Agony come to mind), but the heights they reached at a crucial point in their career impress me still. Don't listen to this and think it's the best example of Testament's work -- just appreciate what a band capable of true thrash can do when they slow it down a bit.

1992-The Year Thrash Metal Died
1992 was a tough year to swallow for Metal Fans. I am not talking about the birth of Grunge, because that didnt really bury Metal, it just took Metal to new horizons with bands such as SoundGarden, Nivana, and Pearl Jam. What really killed great Thrash Bands was the rise of Hair Metal which really took off in 1991 and was still hanging on by a thread in 1992. Even though not all bands crossed over to that sound, most of the great Thrash Metal acts of the 1980's such as Metallica, Overkill, Exodus, Megadeth, and Anthrax were either left for dead or released albums that were sub-par to their earlier works, as it seemed these bands, all on major label, were trying to cross over into the pop metal world. Testament was another that fell victim to these time period, and the god awful "The Ritual" doesnt even deserve to have the Testamens name on it. This album is a joke folks. From the first track, you swear that you were listening to Winger or White Lion with weak lyrical content and music that was dreadful slow and very forgettable. The only two tracks on the album that even have an edge to them are the title track, even though its slow, it is downtuned enough to give Testament some rawness here, and "Agony" The rest is just garbage, and boy can we tell that the record company influenced Testament to release this garbage of an album. It was bad enough that Metallica' Black Album and Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction were lacking the fericoty of the bands older material, but this album is a joke. I am glad that this was the only stinkbomb the band made, and they were able to put this garbage behind them. Avoid this one at all cost. Get anything from Testament but this.

Testament's "black album"
Testament's fifth release brings us some good songs. However, I can't shake the feeling the band was struggling. They sound bored, I don't think it's coincidence Alex Skolnick left after this release. They tried to get more commercial with this release and it didn't work. Between the inner turmoil within the band and the stresses of touring. I'm not surprised by this release. I used to hate this disc. Now I go back and listen to it and wonder if this is the same group that gave us Demonic and both discs after that one. The Ritual is a masterpiece compared to the newer stuff from Testament.
The Ritual is worth checking out. Just don't expect Practice What You Preach quality.

What happened???
I had not been listening to testament for long, but this cd was such a let down from souls. What we see here is a cd devoid of any emotion and trapped in a time where the band felt neglected and unappreciated in its own scene. This is the one and only time Testament tried to apeal to the general masses. My first listen to a video, electric crown and I was like wow this is interesting between all the grundge coming out but when the face of testament was behind this music it felt so uninspiring compared to their usual work. Many fans claim that return to serinity was a great song, I call blasphamy...listen to the legacy and find where the heart and soul is. This is by far the most disappointting LP that testament has ever released. Go buy the gathering and feel where the band should be.