UMUR "Ritual Abuse" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US doom metal act Cough. The album was released through Relapse Records in October 2010. Cough formed in 2005 and released their debut full-length studio album "Sigillum Luciferi" in 2008. The band is a three-piece with both the guitarist and the bassist delivering lead vocals. Bassist Parker Chandler performs the harsh vocals and guitarist David Cisco delivers the clean vocals.

Stylistically the music on the 5 track (there´s a double vinyl version available, which features a bonus track), 53:21 minutes long album is filthy and crushingly heavy doom metal with a sludgy edge. The vocals vary between aggressive raspy type vocals and clean desperate sounding vocals. The tracks are long, dark and oppressive and the riffs are crushingly heavy. The production is filthy, raw and powerful. The closing title track is a bit too longdrawn for my taste but otherwise I think the tracks are very entertaining and they are fully able to hold my attention, which isn´t a matter of course for me, when we´re talking doom metal. Songs like "Mind Collapse" and "A Year in Suffering" are simply mindblowingly heavy and raw. I really enjoy those tracks.

"Ritual Abuse" has been a pleasant surprise to me, and while the clean vocals took some getting used to and the above mentioned unneseccarily longdrawn title track drags my rating down a bit, I still think a 3.5 - 4 star rating is deserved.