Meet Ritual Killer, a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based metallic hardcore outfit that formed in the summer of 2023. Their first single, "Exit Strategy," came out in early 2024, followed by the debut EP, I Never Said I Was Good, in July 2025. The band is made up of vocalist Blake Cannon, guitarist Joseph Burns, drummer Matt McPeak, and bassist Hunter Gardenhire.
Their sound is as menacing as their name would suggest. The riffs are chuggy, the vocals harsher than a Sonoran Desert heatwave, and the lyrics just as unforgiving.
Ritual Killer played over 70 shows between winter 2024 and early summer 2025, sharing bills with Pure Bliss, Chained, Turn Cold, and Claymore, and supporting Psycho-Frame, Gideon, and Orthodox on select dates. By 2026, they had played more than 100 shows in the previous year.
The band's debut full-length, This Valley Will Take Us All, is set for release in January 2027 on Innerstrength Records. No Echo is premiering a track from the album, "With No End in Sight." The video was filmed by Jake Hamby, Cheyenne Striker, and Jamie Edwards, with an edit by Joe Burns:
"'With No End in Sight' is about growing up with religion being forced on you and eventually questioning the contradictions that come with it," Ritual Killer tells No Echo. "The song explores the idea of everlasting love being presented alongside control, fear of suffering, and the promise of salvation that can feel dependent on what you're willing to give or sacrifice.
"It's about recognizing those contradictions and questioning the beliefs you were taught rather than simply accepting them."
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This Valley Will Take Us All will be out in January 2027.
Ritual Killer on social media: Instagram
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