[4] The art direction and design were done by Tom Hingston Studio, featuring the Hartridge twins, Alice and Jessica, on the cover.

[6] All tracks are written by Harry McVeigh, Charles Cave and Jack Lawrence-BrownRitual was met with mixed reviews from contemporary music critics.

[20] In a more mixed review, Chris Mandle of the New Musical Express said Ritual felt particularly derivative, comparing it to outtakes of Pornography by The Cure, or Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol.

Heaney did offer praise for Ritual having a more distinct sound, allowing for White Lies to "step out of the shadow of the likes of (contemporary bands) Interpol and Editors".

[9] Writing for Pitchfork, Ian Cohen panned the album summarising Ritual as "wildly overwrought and painfully dull".

Describing its sound, he compared the album to bands like Glasvegas, saying that "you've lived through Glasvegas and such, so you should know the drill by now: guitars whoosh and whir to sound exactly like synthesizers while the actual synthesizer goo provides the empty calories required for nearly every track on Ritual to reach its completely arbitrary five-minute length.

"[17] Describing the instrumentation, Cohen said "The constant hi-hats and thrumming bass are meant to imply some sense of urgent momentum, and the inevitable half-time chorus lets McVeigh over-sing even more.