REVIEW: Warning - Rituals of Shame
- Noise Leonard
- Jun 15
- 4 min read
It’s been noted all too often over the past several months that 2026 is very much the year of the “comeback album”. A band releasing their first great project in years (decades, in one or two cases) is one thing, but a band releasing their first new project in a long time is a different thing entirely. Enter WARNING, whose previous album, 2006’s Watching From A Distance is hailed as one of the greatest records in the doom metal subgenre. It’s easy to see why it’s endured too, with a 12-minute behemoth of an opening track setting the scene for an album that escapes descriptors like “moody” and skips straight to “depressive”. All the while featuring some of the filthiest guitar tone in the genre and Patrick Walker’s absolutely wonderful Ozzy-esque vocals with something of an extra expressive and emotional flair to them.
The only other WARNING material we’ve had since then is a live album of them performing Watching From A Distance in full at Roadburn 2021 - an incredible listen, no doubt, but the sole purpose of Walker bringing WARNING back in 2017 was to perform that album. It seemed as though the group had served its purpose, and it only felt right to focus on slowcore group 40 WATT SUN instead. So it came as a huge surprise when the nine-minute Stations released some months ago. Fans everywhere were in utter disbelief. The possibility of original WARNING material was never completely off the table, but shocking nonetheless. A new album in 2026? The excitement was only amplified when fans listened to the song and discovered that it's yet another masterpiece from the group.
A sonic manifestation of loneliness that only Walker and co. could achieve, from the desolate atmosphere created by guitars that ooze like molasses, moving at the tempo of a snail with the weight and punch of a thousand tonnes behind it, as well as the poetry. “Tonight, there’s nothing that can reach me in the world outside. It’s just another vast, aching hunger; an emptiness of another kind”, Walker wails in his signature pained tone, over an increasingly intense wall of guitars. The slowcore sensibilities from 40 WATT SUN are evident here, it feels as effortless as a song like Stages. It easily goes toe-to-toe with the best from Watching From A Distance.
So, does the rest of the album live up to the hype? If the 13-minute opener and title track Rituals Of Shame is anything to go by, we’re off to a great start. You press play on the album, and you’re met with an instantly iconic riff that makes you feel as though they never left. Walker’s lyrics throughout this track are arguably even more mature than on WARNING’s previous album - which might be a deal-breaker for some. The appeal of that album’s lyrics is how his emotions are laid bare, simple yet crushing under the sheer openness of them. But it’s still present here to some extent, and it’s hard not to be in awe of passages such as “It's not in the darkness of certainty that I need you most, but in an ever-living, self-defeating horror that follows me wherever I fall.”
The second single and third track Night Comes Down is likely to be seen as the weakest cut here. The album’s comparatively cleaner production was noticeable on the first two tracks, but it didn’t hold them back particularly. The guitars on this song just don’t pack the same punch, at least not until the chord progression switches up in the fourth minute. That’s not to say there’s nothing to like about the first half, the riff is yet another highlight - at this point in the album it’s fair to say that they do doom riffs like no other. But that second half is excellent. The vocals and guitars work together to create one of the most emotionally poignant moments yet. It’s still an eventful listen, the problem is that it’s a great song on an album filled with phenomenal tracks.
Landing Lights is quite the hearty track, some of the instrumental sections here feel immense, due in no small part to the drumming from Andrew Prestidge. It’s a fitting precursor to the final track, Teacher, which opens with agonised guitars, a passionate vocal performance and some of the most hard-hitting poetry yet. The repeating lyrical motif of “time will turn to me”, sung in Walker’s forlorn tone almost makes it feel like an anthem of defeat. The dynamic build of the quiet section towards the end sets it apart from everything else on the album thus far, before roaring back into gear again to deliver a gut-punch of a conclusion. As Walker sings “I can’t count to the ways I love you”, the song dissolves, left with nothing but the last bit of lingering sustain from the guitars.
After 20 years, WARNING have produced an album bound to leave casual fans and doom metal vanguards alike saying “they’ve done it again”. To compare it to the quality of a record like Watching From A Distance feels wrong in some way, but Rituals Of Shame is indeed another masterpiece of the same calibre - and in the same way, if this ends up being their final studio album under the moniker, it’s a worthy one.
Score: 9/10
Rituals of Shame will be released on 19th June 2026 via Relapse Records.
Words: Noise Leonard
Photos: Warning
Comments