Review & Full Album Stream: Ritual Earth & Kazak, Turned to Stone Ch. 9
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on January 10th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
This Friday, Jan. 12, marks the release of Turned to Stone Ch. 9, the latest installment of the ongoing split series from Ripple Music highlighting deep-underground talent in heavy rock, doom, psych, and related styles. Bringing together Ritual Earth from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Italian duo Kazak, the seven-song offering follows behind the Southwesterly-focused Turned to Stone Ch. 8 (review here), which arrived in May 2023 with new material from Blue Heron and High Desert Queen, and in prior editions the series has highlighted works from Howling Giant, Saturna, Planet of the 8s, Merlin, Wizzerd, and of course plenty of others.
Ritual Earth aren’t without influence from desert-style heavy, but they can’t escape that Northeastern urbane tonal crunch either, and it stays resonant even as they depart the roll in “Through the Interstellar Medium” for a first-half exploratory jaunt. 
To be sure, the nod returns. Vocalist George Chamberlin carries rock melodies informed by grunge and traditionalist heavy, and in Steve Mensick‘s guitar, Chris Scott‘s bass, Chris Turek‘s drumming and maybe organ from Mark Boyce, there is expansive complement. Offering three songs to Kazak‘s four, Ritual Earth first present the organ-laced blues nod of “In the Wake,” which weaves into and around its central riff through moody, open verses that seem to make the ensuing chorus take off all the more.
“Through the Interstellar Medium” brings psychedelic flourish to this riffy ideology, and in the eight-minute “Ominous Aurorae,” they take their time getting there and offer an impact in the drums that’s well worth the trip as they embrace a more linear structure rising from a contemplative, atmospheric start into more terrestrial chorus-making, not quite as over-the-top as Green Lung, but not far off, and underscore the triumph with a guitar solo before capping with a last chorus. Kazak — the two-piece configuration of guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Daniele Picchi and drummer Matteo Gherardi branched off of the decidedly more raucous unit Fish Taco — arrive at Turned to Stone with four cuts, shorter on average than Ritual Earth‘s in terms of runtime, but expansive in their own way, fostering a meditative sound that, like what Ritual Earth brought to side A, is adjacent to desert rock without actually being it.
Instead, the primary touchstone for Kazak, particularly once Picchi‘s vocals start on “Geometrical Alchemy,” is earlier Om, but the difference of impact thought Picchi‘s guitar is apparent even earlier than that, and the flexibility in terms of frequency from the six-stringed instrument gives “Geometrical Alchemy” a sense of reach that “Haze,” which is still
plenty rich in terms of low end, but that finds its fluidity in the interplay with Gherardi‘s drumming. At 7:11, “Sunset Symphony” is as far out as Kazak go, its groove is melodic and resonant thanks to vocal layering as it approaches the middle, though by that point, Kazak have immersed the listener in the fog they’ve conjured through the first two songs, so it’s not such a leap when they take that next step.
And suitably enough, it’s the guitar riffing away in the nod of closer “The 25th Hour” that lets Kazak ride to its more percussive ending with such flow, hypnotic repetition easing the way as Picchi and Ghererdi find ground beneath the ether. Their sound and Ritual Earth‘s are varied, but each belongs to the band in question, and while they might not at first seem like the most intuitive pairing — as opposed to bands who sound the same, that is — they make each other’s material stronger through their shared elements and are all the more divergent for the individual takes they present. Once again, the Turned to Stone series delivers a quality sampling of wares from two acts who will only have earned whatever recognition they garner from taking part in it. You’d think eventually the label would run out of bands to spotlight, but I’m certainly glad it hasn’t happened yet.
The split LP streams in full below, followed by more from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Preorder link: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/turned-to-stone-chapter-9
“Turned To Stone Chapter 9” will be available on January 12th, 2024 in various vinyl formats as well as digitally, with preorders available now on Ripple Music.
RITUAL EARTH & KAZAK “Turned To Stone Chapter 9” split album Out January 12th on Ripple Music – PREORDER: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/turned-to-stone-chapter-9
TRACKLIST:
1. Ritual Earth – In The Wake
2. Ritual Earth – Through Interstellar Medium
3. Ritual Earth – Ominous Aurorae
4. Kazak – Geometrical Alchemy
5. Kazak – Haze
6. Kazak – Sunset Symphony
7. Kazak – The 25th Hour
Ritual Earth are:
George Chamberlin – Vocals
Steve Mensick – Guitars
Chris Scott – Bass
Chris Turek – Drums
Keys & Synths by Mark Boyce
Kazak are:
Matteo Gherardi – drums, pads
Daniele Picchi – guitar, voice, synth
