Sentient Ruin is honored to bring you The Ancient Plague, the debut EP/demo tape by Californian black/death duo Malefic Levitation. Formed in 2016, and hailing from Fresno, CA, Malefic Levitation's debut is an incinerating onslaught of bestial and pestilent war metal that is shockingly savage and unremittingly barbaric as it unfolds its malevolent spires upon the listener. Bringing together the structurally imploding and collapsing chaos of black/death stalwarts like Revenge, Archgoat, and Diocletian, and the most vile forms of grindcore, Malefic Levitation have created an instant classic in the realm of the most overwhelmingly violent strains of extreme metal, and birthed a sonic abomination whose feral ferocity is matched solely by its unforgiving cruelty.
Today CVLT Nation premiered the first track from the work titled Savage Hunter - calling The Ancient Plague "twenty minutes of inconceivably deranged and fucking barbaric black/death metal". You can check out their feature HERE.
While bands like Bathory, Morbid Angel, Mayhem, Blasphemy, Beherit, etc. where a no brainier guiding light for the newborn duo, the two also wanted to push the genre of blackened death metal into uncharted waters, and create something unique that could harness a new realm of musical pestilence rarely seen or attempted before. The result was their Warlord Rites single, self-recorded and self-released digitally by the band on Bandcamp only. This track showcased Malefic Levitation's blossoming hunholy grip on total aural destruction perfectly, revealing a style of songwriting that set them instantly aside from their peers in the so called "war metal" genre. The duo had in fact birthed a five-plus minute behemoth of sublime black/death wretchedness that revealed a band who was fearless and completely at ease in expressing their most progressive and technical side.
Shortly after the band entered the studio with local engineer Jacob Lee (Keeper, Fiend etc.) to record their proper and complete debut offering: the unholy and godless omnipotent black/death chaos of The Ancient Plague - which will be released on cassette by Sentient Ruin in the US, and by Dawnebreed Records in the EU on November 2017.
The two releases are different, with the art for the US tape printed with black offset ink on red heavy cardstock, and the EU art printed with silver ink on black heavy cardstock. Both versions can be now pre-ordered on our store or Bandcamp.