Ritual

Ritual was formed in 1992 in Stockholm, Sweden, by drummer Johan Nordgren, bassist Fredrik Lindqvist, guitarist-singer Patrik Lundström and keyboardist Jon Gamble. Influenced both by 70s progressive rock and by contemporary bands like The Police, XTC and It Bites, Ritual forged its own distinctive brand of progressive music. The characteristics of the band's sound were already present on their first self-titled album, released in 1996: song-based, melodic and intense, with great stylistic variation and many folk music influences seeping in. The band's frequent use of unusual acoustic instruments such as the bouzouki, the mandola, whistles and the keyed fiddle (nyckelharpa).