Ritual is the fifth studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder.

It is the band's last record to feature Ryan "Bart" Williams on bass and Shannon Lucas on drums.

Frontman Trevor Strnad considers Ritual "the most focused Black Dahlia Murder strike of all time.

"[10] Co-founder Brian Eschbach, meanwhile, credits the presence of fellow guitarist Ryan Knight, who joined the band during Deflorate, with helping to move things forward on this particular venture.

"[10] The first lyrics in the first track, "A Shrine to Madness", are a reference to a quote which appeared in the 1997 video game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

The song "Moonlight Equilibrium" was made available for streaming on April 29, 2011 at Metal Blade's web site.