Portland OR dystopian crust punk prophets Rigorous Institution arise with their first full-length album,"Cainsmarsh", an apocalyptic experimental punk/metal monolith risen on the heels of several EPs and demos littered throughout the underground in the past few years which had hinted at, but not yet fully revealed, until now, the breadth and magnitude of the band's visionary and highly philosophical blend of crust and anarcho punk, proto-metal, and ambient-infused spoken word and literary experimentalism.
“Cainsmarsh” will be released by Sentient Ruin on limited edition mini-gatefold CD with disco bag and eight-page booklet on October 21 2022. The album was previously issued earlier in 2022 as a vinyl/digital release via Black Water Records (US) and Symphony of Destruction (EU), while a CD release for Malaysia was done via Black Konflik Records.
Drawing inspiration from a diverse and transformative plethora of influences such Amebix, Killing Joke, Rudimentary Peni, Dead Can Dance, Antisect, Voivod, Venom, Motorhead and Swans, Rigorous Institution take the listener on a grim ride deep inside the realms of human failure and of societal contradiction, unfolding an apocalyptic dystopian inversion which reveals mankind still chained to its feral and animalistic origins while failed technological and cultural illusions punctuate the inevitable human wasteland, motionless like ancient ruins, lost in a twilight of dissolving history and broken dreams. "Cainsmarsh" brings us back to a russeaunian savage age disfigured by biblical antediluvian anecdotes where mankind's flawed primeval negativity and innate failures drag society and progress back into a primitive dark age of violence, injustice and turmoil, and the band's music orchestrates and soundtracks this atavistic downfall with masterful vision and prophetic anachronism, fusing derailing metal riffs, filthy crust punk primitivism, tense progressive passages, schizoid oracular spoken word and ominous keyboard-laden atmospheres into a dark tale of downfall, sinister presages and unravelling hope.
Rigorous Institution arose in 2018 coalescing around veterans from their punk and metal scene and soon developed a highly visionary syncretism of punk, metal, and avantgarde experimentalism enhanced by DYI art and visuals, poetical spoken word-like vocals and lyrics, apocalyptic atmospheres and a profound influence coming 19th and 20th century philosophy and religion, particularly those currents dealing with dystopian anthropocentrism, human nature and literary retro-futurism. Several EPs and demos surfaced over a span of four years, invaluable documents showcasing the growth of a highly experimental band with a prophetic sound rooted in the evocation of future or alternative realities centered around the inevitable flaws and downfalls of man. Similar characteristics had been observed throughout heavy music history in other now legendary bands, particularly those emerged from the glorious 70s and 80s UK punk scene which eventually birthed sub and side genres like post-punk, anarcho-punk, crust and other vanguards like industrial and noise, particularly acts like Killing Joke, Amebix, Antisect, Rudimentary Peni, Throbbing Gristle, and Dead Can Dance. This similarity with the glorious UK scene can be traced back to the band's intent of using punk music as a mind-expanding medium for dark and cinematic intents, to provoke deep and conscious-moving thoughts in the listener and approach the music creation process from a visionary angle in which history, philosophy, art and literature are all combined into a prophetic and future-reaching approach. The band's sound and aesthetic incorporates keyboards, retro-futurist, post-industrial and post-modern inspired DIY visuals, and deeply philosophical and apocalyptic lyrics that all combined evoke a near-hallucinatory, tense, and otherworldly dreamscape clad in darkness and hopelessness. All this breadth of visions, sounds, influences and concepts found its sublimation in the band’s 2022 debut-full length album, “Cainmarsh”.