Rendered Armor＜Volcanic Orange Vinyl＞

As their album titles suggest, textures are vitally important to Ritual Howls' music. Turkish Leather telegraphed the rough sensuality and dusty drama of its songs, while Into the Water hinted at the cold depths of their third album. Rendered Armor's title is just as evocative of the streamlined, hard-edged sound of the trio's fourth full-length. This aesthetic is most pronounced on "Love Cuts," where the band's love of crushing industrial beats comes to the fore, but it also extends to "Thought Talk," a gloomy, kinetic standout that delivers a subtler -- but still very danceable -- version of their music. Despite the restraint they show on Rendered Armor, they still play with a range of sounds and moods. "Alone Together" begins the album by paring their music down to the bare essentials of a spiky drum pattern and a twangy guitar riff; the recriminations of "Mother of the Dead" are so stark that they border on coldwave; and the way Ritual Howls elevate the whispery menace of "I Can Hear Your Tears" with unusual percussion, including bongos, reaffirms that they are much more eclectic than might be expected. Occasionally, they do unleash all of their drama, most strikingly on "The Offering," where spaghetti western guitars and sighing synths provide the perfect complement to the relentless beats, and on the finale, "All I've Known," which may be the closest they've come to a pop song (albeit a pitch-black one) yet. As Ritual Howls incorporate different shades and kinds of darkness into their music, Rendered Armor proves they grow more authoritative with each release. ~ Heather Phares