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Well this is a letdown. I had heard such good things about this band, people heralding them as underground gods on a par with Omen or Grim Reaper, and this legendary buzz was highly accentuated by the utter impossibility of actually finding their first album "A Hell Of A Knight". I mean, that CD was a ghost, nowhere to be found. So I was very pleased to get hold of this, their follow-up. Unfortunately it does not live up to the hype.

Ritual Steel are very much about the 80's US-Metal sound, not terribly removed from the kind of stuff Twisted Tower Dire used to play, but actually they remind me even more of Skullview – except they are not anywhere near as good as Skullview. This is basic, midpaced traditional Heavy Metal with some good riffs and decent vocals, but it largely remains uninspired. Ritual Steel create some enjoyable moments, but overall this album is very bland, with not a single really memorable chorus or riff. In fact all these songs sound pretty much alike. Not bad, but not good either. There are good bits here, but no real good songs, if you know what I mean.

Ritual Steel are "on hold" right now, and I would recommend they stay there, while their impossible-to-get CDs and inflated reputation ensures they enter metal legend as a lost classic band. If you want an underground band that does this exact type of thing much better, get Twisted Tower Dire's "Isle Of Hydra" or pretty much any Skullview album. And if you want to spend time and effort tracking down an underground CD that is worth the trouble, get Ironsword's "Return Of The Warrior". But if you do decide to hunt down "Blitz Invasion", don't be expecting too much, because this is really pretty mediocre.