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Rings of Saturn > Lugal Ki En > Reviews
Rings of Saturn - Lugal Ki En

What do you hope to prove? Other than the fact that you suck. - 0%

Lord_Of_Diamonds, May 20th, 2019

When mankind launched the Voyager spacecrafts, he launched with them two solid gold records, with earthling music on it for alien life to listen to, should they ever find the two spacecrafts. I believe the record contained classical music of some sort. Perhaps hearing classical music might cause aliens to be interested; who knows? However, if those gold records contained Rings of Saturn music, the aliens would no doubt turn their weapons on Earth, yelling "You dare to leave behind this shit for us to listen to?" as they fired relentlessly.

"Lugal Ki En" (it means something in Sumerian Cuneiform, I think) is an album full of music that is just as inane, pseudo-intellectual, and nonsensical as its title. The members of the band were in their mid-20s at the time of "recording" this album, and you'd think that they would have matured somewhat in the time period between this effort and their previous pile of feces, "Dingir". No such maturity presented itself here, though. We can probably attribute this to the fact that RoS got very famous and rich in a hurry by making funny 8-bit sounds with their guitars, writing funny stories about aliens, and running their drums through more processing than KFC mashed potatoes. There was no need to mature, because they were getting rich off their wankery. There was no need for them to try and make music that sounded genuine. Not to them, anyway. There were too many people out there to be fooled into thinking that Rings of Saturn was an insane technical machine that churned out incredibly br00tle music that would leave the likes of Cannibal Corpse in the dust.

Those idiots (who, sadly, do exist) must have next to no knowledge of music technology, music composition, music theory, or some combination of those three, because it doesn't take much to see what an astounding musical flop "Lugal Ki En" is. Rings of Saturn hired an infamous drummer (sorry, drum programmer) to do drums for this album: Aaron Kitcher, a man famous for being in a band that is practically an internet meme by its own design. I won't say the name of the band. Kitcher programmed all the drums for this album in Superior Drummer (a fact confirmed by former RoS drummer Aaron Stechauner), and, of course, they sound like shit. Cheezy triggered blast beats and gravity rolls combined with card-in-the-bicycle-spokes double kicks make up a drum track that is not playable by a human exactly as it is at any level of skill without severe studio enhancement abuse. A truly vile thing about Kitcher's drum programming here is the fact that he leaves the velocity for the blasts and gravity blasts and kicks at maximum, and then adds in slower sections where he programs in GHOST NOTES. Let's have a minute of silence for all the dynamics that were killed everywhere else. You want to see how unplayable these drum parts are? Go to YouTube and look up Aaron Stechauner playing "Senseless Massacre". He plays it extremely sloppy, and you can hear the dynamics in his snare, too. The way that Rings of Saturn drum parts are written, I'd almost rather hear a machine do it in a live setting than have to watch some poor bastard try and play something that mankind was not meant to play, or even write in the first place. I always love it when people try to defend the use of drum triggers to aid in playing drum parts that are on this level of "technicality". Their constant arguments are "Drum triggers just change the sound of your drum kit!" or "Drum triggers don't make you play better!" Both of these arguments are valid - WHEN YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT A LIVE PERFORMANCE. Drum triggers have absolutely no bearing on how well you play on your own. However, in the studio, which is where most trigger abuse occurs, it's very possible to record your drum parts via MIDI through the drum triggers. And then... what can you do with those MIDI tracks? Run them into a virtual drum instrument like EZdrummer or Abbey Road, and correct the velocity and timing of each recorded MIDI note. All human touch can be easily removed from the track with a few clicks and keystrokes. By the time you're all done, your track will sound so machine-like, you'd be better off programming it in the first place. Well, I mean, Kitcher programmed the drums for this album, so I don't know why I spent all that time vomiting on about drum triggering.

Speaking of vomiting, the vocals and lyrics are next up on the chopping block. Ian Bearer returns here to belch out his absurd prose into some kind of sound recording device, and then proceed to pull out his favorite pitch-shifting plug-in and apply it to the track. It's that annoying tone that you can hear if you listen to any deathcore band that formed itself within the last eight years. I have a very hard time believing that Bearer can apply this vocal tone to his voice naturally, not just because pitch shifter pedals exist for use at live shows, but because his demonstration of his vocal technique on YouTube shows him growling - and you can hear another voice underneath the super-deep growl. But let's move on now; I've made my point that the vocals are bad. Now I'll dismantle the lyrics. I'll just put up a few particularly cringe-worthy lines:

"Simple minded shit and piss filled sacks of meat and blood.
Not designed for rebellion, but the perfect specimen to experience pain."

"They're dismantling delicate limbs at a molecular level. Their fleshy tissues begin to diffuse, as the maggots slowly eat the eyes."

"Speak of the devil and so he shall appear. I beckon that he may, so that I can slit him ear to ear."

"These are now godless times, and you are all fucked."

"Fuck." (yes, just "fuck").

"We are virtually unstoppable."

"Atoms turn to dust."

That last one is truly hilarious, because atoms can't turn to dust - they make up dust. I suppose Lucas and the gang didn't pay much attention in science class, because they were too busy trying to write this cheezy music in Guitar Pro and EZdrummer, and reading the thesaurus to aid in lyric-writing.

Lucas Mann and Joel Omans’ guitar parts, aside from most likely being "fixed" in some way, are only "technical" in the sense that they are nothing but basic patterns that have been sped up to insane speeds. The lejendary sweep in "Godless Times" is nothing more than a two-octave Dorian scale sweep, and people's mouths drop with fascination at it. The actual guitar "riffs" are vapid dissonant chord chugs and derivative djenting, and the horrible gimmicky Meshuggah-inspired guitar tone doesn't help things one little bit. The musical patterns being played by the guitars are not technical. The only thing about the guitars that's technical is the speed of it all, which is no doubt assisted by studio enhancements. I refuse to believe that the guitar parts on this album aren't "fixed"... mostly because of the scattered acoustic guitar sections (see "Lalassu Xul", "Beckon", and "The Heavens Have Fallen"). Said acoustic guitar sections sound horribly synthesized. You'd think that, with all the money that Lucas makes off of this stuff, he'd be able to afford a better virtual guitar. Or, he could just play the acoustic parts himself, because they aren't very technical.

None of this album is actually very technical, when you think about it. What's technical about drum programming? Nothing; anyone can do it. What's technical about djenting or scale sweeps that have been sped up? Not much. What's technical about laughable alien-themed lyrics that are delivered in an artificial voice? Again, not much. This isn't technical deathcore. It's wankery deathcore, and anyone who actually believes the myth that Rings of Saturn is a technical band who really can play their instruments like that... let's just say that if you gave them a penny for their thoughts, you'd get change back. Enough people like that exist, though, to push Rings of Saturn to keep producing of this crap, and continue to shame themselves and metal in general by artificializing their technicality levels. As long as A.N.U.S. elitists like the man behind the infamous YouTube channel "Circle of Tone" have Rings of Saturn and their peers to build off of, metal will lose respect until it is all the same level of laughable. I certainly hope that more people will wake up and inform themselves about the true nature of the band of software geeks that is Rings of Saturn. If you listen to this album, listen to it only for the purpose of trashing it in a Metal Archives review, as I have just done. It gets a flat zero from me, not just because it's not worth a shit musically, but because its style and sound is an embarrassment to metal as a whole.

Found some missing pieces, and fixed it. - 89%

grimwinter13, June 2nd, 2017

Writing this in May of 2017, we're approaching the day (June 2) when Rings of Saturn is going to release a new song. It's been three years since they've released new material, and the release of their fourth album is gaining lots of hype. As I'm preparing for the new album to drop, I've been looking back through Rings's discography, analyzing their stylistic changes and trying to predict what they'll do next.

In the deathcore community, Rings gets constant praise, but across all of metal opinions are mixed. There's the one half that upholds those positive opinions, and the other one that detracts this band as "wankery" with lots of cries of "They can't play what they write!" and "Guitar Pro alert!" I for one am a Rings fan, and regardless of how silly their music is, there's quite an amount of musical substance and skill involved - more so in their more recent years. If there's one Rings album so far that truly shows off their incredible skill, it's Lugal Ki En.

With each release, Rings have tweaked their sound to move in a less-generic direction. On Lugal Ki En, this becomes a critical feature in the album's overall quality. Less breakdowns, actual riffs, and well-defined song structures - all things found here which were absent from the blatantly-deathcore Embryonic Anomaly and began to improve on Dingir. On this album, Rings sounds a lot more serious about their "aliencore" style than ever before - that so-called "wankery" is put to much more intelligent use, with insanely technical/fast sweeping and tapping taking form as solos, interludes, and riffs as opposed to the "Hey look, we can play fast!"-thing they were doing previously. I gotta hand it to Lucas and Miles - they sure can play fast and technical. And from seeing them live twice, I can confirm that they certainly can play what they write, at full-speed.

The guitars on Lugal Ki En are the most drastically tweaked since the last album. The riffs are very much less-based on chugging and palm muting, and instead make use of quick, quirky licks, pinch harmonics, and an overall increased use of the higher register. The latter of which is nice, seeing as this is a band using 8-stringed guitars tuned to Drop E.

There's also a lot of interludes in the songs - most notably at the end of "Senseless Massacre" and after the intro of "Godless Times". The interludes combine clean guitar parts with synths, and are the most melodic moments of the album. Said "Godless Time" interlude is my favorite, as it's followed with an incredible arpeggio run that would make the likes of John Petrucci flinch.

On drums, we have Aaron Kitcher appearing strictly as a studio performer - Kitcher has also been questioned over the legitimacy of his skills. With Rings, he brings to the table a sort of compromise between what you'd hear from any other Rings album, and his own signature style you hear in Infant Annihilator. Kitcher isn't actually playing nearly as fast here as he is with Infant, but he still makes use of plenty of his other shining strengths - quirky kick patterns, gravity snare-blasts, and (of course) it's all done on an electric drum kit.

Ian Bearer - vocalist. He took to the front of Rings back on Dingir and has surely proven himself worthy as the frontman. His vocals are very typical of deathcore, but not bad. His gutturals could use work, but everything else sounds good.

Album art. I don't usually like to judge an album by its cover, but even the band's haters have to admit: Rings of Saturn has some really trippy art! The artwork itself almost matches to the general sound of the music itself - overwhelmingly colorful, complex/confusing, and a little campy but at the same time, just straight up awesome.

All in all: Lugal Ki En shows a band that is getting their act together. I mean, I loved the previous two albums, but I can't lie, this is a major improvement. Think The Faceless' Planetary Duality + Infant Annihilator's breakdowns, then sped up x3. This album shows a massive increase of musical texture and organization.

I'm very excited to hear what they've done with Ultu Ulla. Soon, soon...

Making rings around the competition yet again. - 80%

hells_unicorn, May 13th, 2015
Written based on this version: 2014, CD, Unique Leader Records

If there was a band whose music would be most fitting of background noise while traveling through an inter-dimensional wormhole, Rings Of Saturn would definitely be in the running. A band that lives between two seemingly diametrically opposed spheres of metal in deathcore and progressive metal, they've mostly tended towards sounding like a band that is most at home in the latter, while keeping up the former as a template in which to attempt to tame their wild technical tendencies. While the groovy, shriek-happy and generally extreme style in question does give their various albums a general sense of shape, it actually fails in the aforementioned task of making the music feel in any way restrained. Now with their latest LP Lugal Ki En out, this band has underscored their tendency to transcend through technicality by offering the most insane smattering of notes in song form yet, with the auspicious occasion of band leader Lucas Mann actually cutting heads with one of the most noted guitar shredders in the business today Rusty Cooley.

While this album's cover art bears a striking resemblance to the most recent offering out of Mastodon in all its surreal glory, the actual contents take on a far different character than simply expanding the technical boundaries of an existing and relatively simple style. Further venturing into the abyssal duel of grooving and blasting, several of these songs actually find themselves flirting with the recent djent sound of Meshuggah, albeit painted from end to end with keyboard and guitar fills. This is most apparent on more bass-heavy numbers such as "Infused, "Natural Selection" and "Godless Times", though this stylistic tendency manages to poke its head through on much of the album whenever the quirky style shifts and high-speed fury take a breather, which is often and usually for a short time. This turn in style may owe a fair bit to the heightened feel of near perfect precision between the drums and the other non-keyboard/non-lead parts of the arrangement, turning out all the more closer to the sound of fellow technicians Abiotic, whose former drummer Aaron Stechauner now rounds out the fold.

It is important to point out that while this is an album that thrives on technical wizardry almost to the point of making a mockery of it, the actual nuts and bolts of this band are definitely progressive in character, playing off a host of differing influences both within and without the metal paradigm. While no song on here is a uniform stylistic offering, the most overt example of this eclecticism is found on the longer instrumental "The Heavens Have Fallen", which shifts through jazz balladry, ambient keyboard interludes, folksy acoustic guitar passages and extreme metal like veritable storm of color and contrast. At times the transitions are a bit sudden and jarring, but one can't help but grin when hearing the obvious nods to Dream Theater being worked into a modern death metal offshoot. Perhaps the next closest example to such an elaborate experience is the heavily dressed up crusher "Desolate Paradise", which has an almost military-themed ballad break in the middle that comes out of nowhere, and arguably the heaviest amount of near incomprehensible lead guitar and triggered drum fills on the album.

The downside with any album as ambitious as this one is pretty obvious, namely accessibility issues. This isn't an album that in any way, shape or form lends itself to being hummed along to or recalled in its entirety by vocal rote. Even the band itself would probably balk at the undertaking of making a fully faithful rendition of this album without a heavy amount of the extraneous elements already rendered onto a digital recording for playback. This is an album that is experienced more than it is heard, and in that respect, it doesn't really differ much from its two predecessors, save the sheer amount of noodling going on in the fringes. It's definitely not going to win over any detractors that are in any way annoyed by the obvious deference to modern technology that this band makes, culminating in something that often sounds like it would fit in more on a video game soundtrack than a stand-alone LP. But for those already converted to the cosmic shredder cult, this delivers a mighty fine sermon.

The rings are getting stronger - 85%

MikeyC, December 14th, 2014

Without any warning, Rings of Saturn’s new album Lugal Ki En explodes out of your speakers, delivering in full force what they have throughout their short careers: ultra-technical guitars, shrieking vocals, triggered drumming, and polished production.

Yeah, so if you didn’t like Rings of Saturn before, you’re certainly not going to like them now. They are continuing to pump out their brand of wankery alien-themed technical death metal, and I believe they have come out with perhaps their strongest album to date. Generally, nothing has changed, but the song writing is far stronger, and their small inclusions that were not overtly present before bring a better dimension to the tracks here. “Desolate Paradise” has a wonderful midsection, for example, delivering an eruption of high-end guitars sandwiched between two different breakdowns – none of these sections feel forced or strained, either, seamlessly segueing from one to another like a natural continuum, which shows the strengths and increasing maturity of the band’s song writing evident all over Lugal Ki En.

Guitar work is beyond exceptional. I have no idea how many hours it took to perfect all the little nuances, lightning-fast riffing, pinch harmonics, and all the other guitar tricks on offer, but needless to say that they have never been better. Along with the technical proficiency, there are also great riffs to be had, some of which are very memorable. The solos work very well, too, incorporating into the music nicely. The one that fades out “Infused” is one of my favourites, weaving its magic all over the rhythms of the second guitar and the drumming (even if it is a guest solo).

Speaking of drumming, it’s quite obviously triggered. It’s impossible for a human to gravity blast at the same volume as a regular single snare hit to the level that Aaron Kitcher does. I don’t think this is a detriment to Lugal Ki En, though, because that’s what I expected from this band. Nevertheless, the drumming is again magnificent, keeping busy with the excellent footwork and blasts, but knowing when to restrain, too, such as in “Beckon” and “The Heavens Have Fallen.”

Vocals interchange between low growls and high shrieks, which I enjoy, however the higher registers can be grating to some people. Lyrically, the band is not too bad, although I would like to hear some more blatant alien themes next time around. The cover art (and expanded art in the booklet) portray some sort of alien space fight, but the lyrics don’t really cover anything like that, which is a wasted shame, personally, but not one to detract from the music itself.

The songs themselves do enough to differentiate themselves from each other, with the lovely melodic closings to “Senseless Massacre” and “Eviscerate” to the I-thought-I-was-being-trolled strange guitar riff opening “Lalassu Xul” to the more melodic overtones of the last few tracks, especially the instrumental track “The Heavens Have Fallen.” It took me a few listens to actually like this song at all, initially dismissing it as a poor way to end their original tracks. Now I can appreciate the acoustics and minimalism in it, in contrast to the fullness of their vocalised tracks. I enjoy the Suicide Silence cover, and I like the Rings of Saturn flair they put to it, but marks MUST be deducted for that self-congratulating sample right at the end which I can’t understand why Rings of Saturn ever thought that was a good idea. It breaks the fourth wall and I hate how egotistical it is. It’s a minor sample, sure, but it kills the mood, making it impossible to digest the album properly.

That aside, Lugal Ki En is certainly their strongest album to date, with every song having the ability to be a favourite, showcasing the variety of influences Rings of Saturn possess – not just mindless technicality. I tend to prefer the first half of the album, as I believe that has their best ideas, and I would have enjoyed more extra-terrestrial themes, but overall this one is a winner, and I’m eagerly anticipating how the band evolves from here. Haters are not going to be won over, but fans will relish this. Recommended!

The band's best yet. - 93%

Supakoopa666, October 15th, 2014
Written based on this version: 2014, CD, Unique Leader Records

Rings of Saturn certainly are one of the most polarizing bands in the modern metal scene. Some people love them and their frenetic extraterrestrial instrumentation, others hate them for being overly technical and bearing the "deathcore" tag. Real instruments or GuitarPro? Who shot first, Han or Greedo? Does it matter? These boys can write. Love em or hate em, you can't deny that they have a very original sound going for them, which is something that really works in their favor.

Their first album, Embryonic Anomaly, was likeable enough, but was bogged down by muddy production and sometimes getting a little too wanky. The followup, Dingir, was a huge improvement and is an all around fun album to listen to. Which brings us to today's focus, Rings of Saturn's 3rd otherworldly piece of aliencore, Lugal Ki En.

Right off the bat, before the album was released or even announced, I had a feeling that the band would opt for a slightly less wanky, slightly more melodic sound, as well as switch to 8-string guitars. Well, slap my ass and call me Nostradamus, because I hit the nail on the head. Their first single from the album, Senseless Massacre, matched all three criteria I thought it would. Lots of melody, a lot less wanking, and chunky 8-string riffs. Despite the slight shift in sound, it was still good ole Rings of Saturn. Their second single, Unsympathetic Intellect, also met the bar for the band's newer sound. This is all stuff that carries throughout the rest of the album.

My favorite part of Rings of Saturn has always been their melodies. The wanky passages can sound cool, but the melodic sections were what drew me in. They have a real knack for making their music sound truly alien, whether it be with odd melodies or creative use of guitar effects. The melodies are where Lugal Ki En shines through strongly. They really brought that stuff into the limelight, rather than making it more of a secondary thing like they have in the past. Take the solo at the end of Senseless Massacre for example, or the intro to Natural Selection. Both are awesome demonstrations of this album melody-wise. As for the band's trademark "weedley-weedley-wees," well... there really isn't that much of it. I mean, it's there, but not nearly as abundant in their past two albums. It's impressive, too, because they still manage to sound chaotic even without the guitar neck masturbation they've become infamous/famous for.

There's also a noticeable increase in riffs. Granted, most are borderline djent, but they luckily stay away from the chuggy djent most of the time, and instead go for Meshuggah-esque grooves. This works surprisingly well for a band that's never been very riff based. Bringing up Natural Selection again, the main riff is this excellent groove that really sticks in your head, just the way I like it. One of the albums downsides is there seems to be a few moments where the band needed filler for the song, so you get these draggy spots of chugginess here and there. Fortunately, though, they're far from unbearable, and you forget about them as soon as they're over.. As for breakdowns, they remain of about the same in quantity as before. The only one really worth mentioning off the top of my head is from Infused. It's unlike any breakdown I've heard before, and is surprisingly one of the best moments on the whole album. Oh, and the vocals. The vocals are absolutely fantastic. Ian Bearer is a monster of a vocalist. He ranges from these gnarly highs to disgustingly low growls. His vocals are nothing to sneeze at.

All in all, this album's definitely a step in the right direction for these guys. Even if you downright hate the band (why are you reading this review?), I'd say give this album a spin. It's definitely more mature than their previous releases, and breaks away from the wankiness they've become known for, instead focusing on all sorts of cool and interesting melodies as well as great groovy riffs. And besides, they made a Suicide Silence song sound good. How bad could they be?

Favorite tracks: Senseless Massacre, Infused, Natural Selection, The Heavens Have Fallen

Least favorite track: Lassalu Xul