RITES TO RUIN – Daughter Of Hatred (2025) *HQ*
“Daughter Of Hatred” is the debut full-length album by British band RITES TO RUIN, and it is an infectious, groove laden shot of energy and exactly what heavy metal needed in 2025.
Before we look ahead, let’s take a look back. RITES TO RUIN formed in South Wales in 2019 and have had a steady line-up since the beginning, fronted by the vocal powerhouse that is Krissie Kirby. After some singles and an EP, the band is unleashing the full length debut album titled ”Daughter Of Hatred”, 10 tracks which gives you plenty of time to bask in all of the glorious classic riffs, soaring vocals, amazing musicianship, fantastic songwriting and beautifully clear production. The album also really rewards you for repeat listens as you discover new surprises each time, there is definitely treasure buried in each song so grab your adventuring headphones, sit back and enjoy.
Rites To Ruin demonstrate an irrefutable mastery of the noble art of penning a chorus. Some of what they’ve burned to disk here are titanic, globe-spanning anthems of magisterial bearing. Style-wise? – Rites To Ruin bring NWOBHM kicking and screaming into the modern era with a bright updated sound production, stylishly combining retro head banging vibes with progressive creative thinking across ten mighty bangers.
Putting it simply, it’s an album with depth, but it’s also an album that encourages head banging.
Case in point, the title track, which begins things in epic fashion. Big riffs, big hooks, a big chorus, and to cap it off, a big guitar solo gets things started in a very positive way. Rites to Ruin are here and kicking a ton of ass. Yet, it’s just the start of this ass-kicking and in rampaging style, ‘Prevail’ comes along to impress too. The guitars are awesome here, but the chorus shift and how the vocals rise up, is what stands out the most here.
We love it when a metal album, one that promises to be pretty straight-forward, shows off variety early on. It’s the kind of creativity that doesn’t just keep us listening on, it makes us excited for what comes next.
Which just happens to be hyperactive efforts like ‘In Memoriam’ with its riotous guitar playing and thick sounding drums. Heart-racing efforts like ‘For the Love of Gold’, and the aptly titled ‘Fire’, which comes with burning heavy metal intensity and some exciting theatrics.
Each track comes with so much oomph, delivering thought-out harmonised heaviness that is significantly addictive. If, by the half point, you’re not convinced of Rites to Ruin’s quality, I would suggest you clean your ears out.
You like heavy metal, right? Of course you do, and you want your heavy metal to sound suitably grand, powerful, and infectious, right? Then Rites to Ruin is the band for you and the second half of the record only enhances that statement.
‘Reflections’, ‘Rise’, ‘Free’, ‘Sorrow’… tracks that come with thumping force and extravagant features (such as more melody). Again, it must be stressed that there is a ton of varied ideas here and together, the band really do show off just how creative they can be in a notoriously stiff genre.
Rites To Ruin are so good at making heavy metal music, and Krissie might be one of the best vocalists in the scene right now, a front woman with more than two decades of experience, and it shows.
So, how does a band this talented wrap up a banger record? By going heavier, groovier, and darker with the thrilling ‘Envy’. A massive hit to end things on and one final reminder of this band’s mighty fine ways. A fist raising, chest thumping, head banger of a debut album.
It would not surprise us if ”Daughter Of Hatred” ended up on many heavy metal ‘Best Of’ lists come the end of the 2025. The band should be very proud of what they have accomplished here and we hope they get all of the success and attention that they deserve with this amazing debut album.
Highly Recommended
01 – Daughter of Hatred
02 – Prevail
03 – In Memoriam
04 – For the Love of Gold
05 – Fire
06 – Reflections
07 – Rise
08 – Free
09 – Sorrow
10 – Envy
Krissie Kirby – Vocals
Matt Chambers – Guitar
Paul Boschen – Bass
Lee Cartner – Guitar
Zak Skane – Drums
BUY
ritestoruin.bigcartel.com/product/daughter-of-hatred-album
