We’re proud to announce that American industrial metal conspirators Ash Prison (formed by Matt Auxier of electro-industrial act 6th Circle on guitars and electronics, by bassist J. Thompson of East Coast darkwave cult Child Ov Night, and by California-based Italian vocalist M. Alagna of Abstracter, Somnolent and ex-Atrament) arise with their pulverizing debut album "Future Torn", a collaborative, cross-genere usurpation of heavy industrial electronics, dark hardcore punk and black/heavy metal united under the black banner of total anarchy, chaos, and absolute retaliation.
The forthcoming debut long player has been anticipated by stalwart underground alternative and punk blog No Echo, who in premiering the track “Scorn” have remarked that that on the track “the combination of Ash Prison's cacophonous musical arrangements (often utilizing harsh electronic flourishes) and the extreme vocals is a match made in hell“ - you can read the feature and check out the track HERE.
Influenced by acts like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, G.I.S.M., Mayhem, Motörhead, Discharge and Godflesh, on the pummeling debut long player Ash Prison infer of a future, and soon to be, dystopian failed state fallen into complete anarchy and chaos, being paid back with violence and scorn for its own perpetration of injustice and corrupt societal squalor. Within this dark conceptual framework, a crushing barrage of cold sequences, torrential, obsessive drum machines, bulldozing bass lines and abrasive, distorted electronics serve as the backbone to a vitriolic onslaught of grinding guitars and hateful vocals reminiscent of and inspired by the iconic despisal of pioneering underground vocalists like Sakevi Yokoyama and Attila Csihar. A highly original, deadly, and thought-provoking syncretism of dark social commentary and sonic antagonism, "Future Torn" unites various eras, decades, and interpretations of musical insurrectionism to create its own divergent idea of "anarcho-punk", post-industrial dystopia, and heavy metal destruction to soundtrack and instigate the rise of turmoil, riots, violence, and widespread destruction. Elegant and subtle touches of adjacent influences coming from post-punk, gothic rock, power electronics, death industrial, dark ambient and darkwave punctuate the work throughout augmenting its dark aura and rendering the whole work diverse, dense and unpredictable throughout its tense and telluric thirty-plus minutes of grim upheaval.
"Future Torn" is slated for a September 22 2023 worldwide release via Sentient Ruin on LP, MC and digital products along with a full spread of album-themed on-demand apparel.
Ash Prison was formed around 2021 by Matt Auxier of electro-industrial act 6th Circle on guitars and electronics, by bassist J. Thompson of East Coast darkwave cult Child Ov Night, and by California-based Italian vocalist M. Alagna of Abstracter, Somnolent and ex-Atrament. Having met online after being both Sentient Ruin artists, Alagna and Auxier had gone back and forth for some time prior throwing around ideas for a dark metal-infused industrial project following their shared appreciation for bands like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, G.I.S.M. and Slayer, along with a mutual love for goth and darkwave, death industrial, and punk. Auxier wrote, composed and mixed the bulk of the band's 2023 debut full-length album "Future Torn" at his home studio in midst of the COVID pandemic while also handling guitars and all the electronics, while Thompson (an old friend of Auxier) was tasked with the bass tracks (also recorded remotely from the East Coast), and Alagna composed lyrics and recorded vocals from his home base of Oakland CA. The ensuing work materialized as a sonic molotov launched straight and bigotry, ignorance and corruption, with dark, spiteful political commentary in the lyrics delivered by a hateful, ominous vocal delivery inspired by black metal and Japanese punk, and a vitriolic onslaught of cold heavy industrial electronics, pummeling drum machines, scorching electric guitars and smoldering bass lines. "Future Torn" was complemented on the visual side by pertinent artwork by xerox/high contrast Canadian visual master P. Van Trigt, depicting an embittered, ominous corpse-like figure glaring through wires (an empty worthless remnant of the delusion of consumerism) while the mastering behind the album’s raw and blown out sound was handled by iconic underground punk audio engineer Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.