CRYPTAE: Dutch Experimental Death Metal Deviants Unveil Aberrant Debut Demo Tape - Track Premiered at Decibel Magazine.

Strikingly unique, visually insane, and sonically decimating, this is Netherlands-based Cryptae - an extreme metal anomaly devoted to the most liminal and cerebral extents of sonic deconstruction and to the most aberrant thresholds of experimentalism.

With a background of its two members forged within the abstract and improvisational realms of free-jazz, noise rock, industrial, and shapeshifting avantgarde, Cryptae have shown astonishingly calculating levels of insanity in crafting their own vision of modern experimental extreme metal, spewing forth a maze of deviant and bludgeoning death metal chaos that aims straight at the listener's central nervous system with the intent of dismantling their every layer of sanity directly from within. The two sociopaths behind the project are primarily involved in many industrial and experimental entities like Dead Neanderthals and Celestial Bodies to name a few, showing just how diverse and enigmatic their background and influences are, an aspect of their creative DNA which has irreparably shaped the madness and delirium which permeates Cryptae.

A careful and demanding listener will notice that beyond the utter chaos and destruction summoned by the duo through a meticulous reinterpretation of 90's most structurally ambitious and punishing death metal (Incantation, Immolation, Morbid Angel), lies a realm of ungraspable and disorienting experimentalism which has tapped into influences as diverse and absurd and Swans, Magma, and Discharge, making Crytpae one of the most deranged and visionary death metal oddities to appear in Europe in recent times - and comparable to equally twisted and experimental black/death masters like Portal, Altarage, Mitochondrion and the such.

CRYPTAE - S/T DEMO TAPE

Tracklisting:

1. Glubroneous
2. Ventrum
3. Cryptae
4. Maze

As such, we could not be more honored and proud to bring you their debut release - the self titled "white" demo tape that will officially drop through Sentient Ruin on December 22 2017, serving as the label's last release of a truly insane year for us. Self-titled Cryptae demo tapes are truly a sight to behold: absurd, and minimalistic artwork in the j-cards by one of the band members, with the tape case itself housed in a snow white sleeve - something that completely stands out among the band's peers and which will surely delight all the extreme metal nerds out there who have an eye for visually compelling analog artifacts.

With the release date imminent, Decibel Magazine has been as so kind to unveil the first track from Cryptae's bludgeoning debut demo tape - and you can now exclusively stream the track Ventrum and read their feature HERE.

Tapes and dital products are now available for pre-order on our store and Bandcamp.

ABKEHR: German Black Metal Duo's Amazing Debut Album "In Asche" Now Available on Vinyl.

We're very pleased to announce the release of In Asche - the debut release by German black metal specter ABKEHR on vinyl! Earlier this year when we released In Asche on tape ABKEHR made heads turn with their darkened and hopeless alloy of miserably majestic raw/atmopsheric black metal, receiving praise from publications like CVLT Nation, Invisible Oranges, Terrorizer and No Clean Singing, and with cassettes going sold out in record time and becoming quickly unavailable. Today, this vinyl release done in collaboration with our comrades Sick Man Getting Sick Records in the EU serves as the final and ultimate release version of one of 2017's most imaginative black metal albums.

In Asche LPs come as a standard clear vinyl or as limited black vinyl, and are available for purchase now on our store or Bandcamp and already shipping worldwide.

Slithering out from the most remote crevices of the German extreme metal underworld, ABKEHR's genesis appears to have been sparked by unprecedented emotional and mental collapse and by an unfathomable pull toward absolute, devouring darkness. The band formed in 2015 in Northern Germany by sole masterminds Raash and H. with the intent of unifying under the black looming star of self-disintegration the raw misanthropic grimness of the most praised Norwegian black metal tradition with the atmosphere and desperation of depressive black metal, and the swarming majesty of US atmospheric black metal. Shaped by a diverse and sapient pletora of influences ranging from Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, and Craft, to Cornigr, Mgła, and Ash Borer, Abkehr have funneled the primordial abjection and hatred of traditional black metal through a cascading surge of the most blighted and tormented human emotions, creating something grandiose and ungraspable who’s beauty is matched solely by its own omnipotent wretchedness.

With the "mini album" In Asche Abkehr explore the many manifestations of darkness, hopelessness, evil, and annihilation - condensing them into heathen sonic form to distill their very own expression of actual hell. Hideously and relentlessly crawling across four vast movements of pure incarnated darkness, In Asche is a towering and commanding work in the current underground black metal panorama, which has managed to harness the primordial savagery of bands like Craft and Judas Iscariot, the vast and enveloping hopelessness of bands like Weakling and Ash Borer, and the visionary wretchedness of brilliant black metal anomalies like Twilight and Leviathan, to create their own personal passageway into a tormented and shadow-torn world.

FRIENDSHIP: Sentient Ruin Teams Up With Daymare Recordings and Southern Lord for Release of Japanese Powerviolence Devastators' Shockingly Destructive Debut Album.

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We are extremely proud and honored to announce the release the cassette version of Hatred - the debut album from elusive and mysterious experimental powerviolence terrorists Friendship (also known as the Friendship Collective).

After releasing the I&II compilation on tape and vinyl earlier this year to critical acclaim and bringing the band's crippling powerviolence/grind destruction to worldwide attention - we now prepare to release the cassette version of the band's harrowingly bludgeoning debut album, while Daymare Recordings from Japan will handle the CD and Southern Lord the vinyl wordlwide. 

Again, as in the case of I&II - Hatred is a no-prisoners type of release where the listener is deconstructed and terminated by the band in just under thirty minutes with a barrage of aural violence and deliberate destruction that seem both endless and implausible in their absurd enormity. Once again Friendship show no mercy toward any life form put on their path and instead proceed to literally annihilate the senses of those who dare to sit down with their music with their own megaton-formula of highly refined and telluric alloy of terrorist powerviolence and monstrous grindcore that devours everything in its path. As with the tradition of most extreme metal and punk Japanese bands, Friendship's formula also displays a high degree of "mindlessness", contamination, and recklessness as it unfolds its ridiculously enormous barrage of sonic violence with unseen force, all while also shocking the listener with an insane sense of purpose and of highly deliberate creativity. While their music is monstrous in its aggression and sheer brutality, it also comes from a place where aesthetic perfectionism, the inclusion of contaminating genres like noise, and extreme sludge and doom metal, and a meticulous attention to details and innovation, have yielded something truly absurd in sheer enormity - something both implausibly apocalyptic in quantitative violence and grandiose in its undisputable artistry. Once again, the band have been able to coerce together the mindless hardcore/punk approach of fast heavy bands like Hatred Surge, Column of Heaven, Nails, and Full of Hell, and the nuclear fission-like doom collapse of Japanese extreme sludge masters Corrupted, ultimately materializing something unseen and totally futuristic in ugliness and size.

Hailing from the Chiba Prefecture of Japan, and with members also residing in Tokyo, Friendship came out of nowhere and even with an extremely shy and elusive kind of approach toward the press, visibility, and stages, they have proceeded to take on the world by storm with their life-taking recorded output and with their infamously soul-crushing live performances in their native motherland. As such Hatred stands as yet another harrowing decalaration of war toward all existence, and as a continuation in a legacy that while still young and merely started already appears to be undisputed and highly unapologetic.

With blunt force trauma mastering curtesy of Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, and a stark and cryptic looking packaging presentation coming with black on black spot UV/gloss varnish graphics, Hatred is now available on cassette from Sentient Ruin and shipping worldwide (get it on our store or Bandcamp), while CDs are available through Daymare Recordings, and vinyl from Southern Lord.

夢遊病者: Sentient Ruin Re-Issues Mind-boggling Debut Album By Multinational Psychedelic Black Metal Experimentalists on Cassette and Vinyl.

We proudly bring you the unparalleled 2016 debut album from elusive multinational psychedelic/avantgarde black metal enigma 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker) now officially re-released on cassette and finally also available on 12" vinyl.

夢遊病者 (aka Sleepwalker) is an abstract, improvisational, and experimental psychedelic black metal band in existence since 2015, and 5772 was their unprecedented 2016 debut album, which Sentient Ruin noticed after the band had quietly already self released it on Bandcamp digitally and as a limited run of tapes which quickly sold out. Mind-boggled by the bands absurd and visionary music we approached them for a tape re-release and vinyl release of the album which is being handled in collaboration with italian label AnnapurnA in the EU (who are also releasing the album on digipack CD). 

The essence of 夢遊病者, is to take cues from the improvisational school of jazz and the cathartic nature of ritual folk music and couple it with the raw energy of bands like Voivod, Zeni Geva, G.I.S.M., and the most wretched raw black metal. Thematically and conceptually the band's lyrics and much of the visuals focus on different cultural traditions, superstitions, ritualism, and ceremonies, as well as familial experiences. But at the same time, 夢遊病者 goes far beyond what is apparent and obvious... Artistic, cultural and musical influences of the band range as far and wide as Keiji Haino, Kazuki Tomokawa, as well as Vladimir Vysotsky, Justin Broderick, Erik Rutan, American noise rock like Unsane, bands like NoMeansNoand, Finnish Black Metal, and 70's psych and prog rock and soundtrack music... And beyond all that still. In the world of 夢遊病者 the sole objective is catharsis, and fusing all of these seeming disparities together into something that is completely unheard of, unsettling and violent, but also familiar and seducing.

As a band - 夢遊病 isn't really "based" out of anywhere, assuming immaterial form, and existing as ideas, concepts, and visions that cyclically coalesce into sound. With its members based as far apart as Osaka - Japan, Tver - Russia, and New York - USA, the band was formed after they became acquainted online, and everything is written sharing ideas and recordings over the internet and finally, when the moment seems right, the three members convene somewhere in person to record.

夢遊病's debut album 5772 is a visionary collision of sounds and of different schools of thought in extreme and experimental metal and beyond, that bursts the listener's synapses open with a mind-shattering alloy of drone, raw black metal, kraut/psychedelic rock, free-jazz, noise rock, and tribal ritualism - a truly unparalleled mind-fuck suspended between the visionary opposites of Voivod, Zeni Jeva, Oxbow, John Zorn, King Crimson, Darkthrone, and Xasthur. Tapes are now available to purchase on our store and Bandcamp and already shipping worldwide, with vinyl (available in two colors - standard gold and limited black) is pre-oradble and slated to ship in the early weeks of 2018.

DSKNT: Dismal Swiss Black Metal Entity Readies Debut Album - Track Unveiled at CVLT Nation.

We are proud and honored to announce the release of PhSPHR Entropy - the debut album of mysterious Swiss black metal monstrosity DSKNT.

Hailing from Switzerland this mysterious polymorphic black metal enigma is a presumed one man operation dedicated to unearthing the most hidden and unnameable realms of sonic oppression. DSKNT is a vessel for the sole assumed mastermind of the project to conjure visions of unparalleled wretchedness, and to summon a sonic horror that barely seems graspable such its scope and depth. DSKNT is presumably the sole work of one Sinnhir, a swiss extreme metal luminary who is also thought to be involved with other Swiss extreme meal bands like Antiversum, AION, Necrosemen, and probally various others. Like most projects of this nature, there is little or almost no information about DSKNT, and Sentient Ruin was unable to confirm any other details regarding the nature and identity of the project.

PhSPHR Entropy is DSKNT's debut offering: a hermetic, polymorphic and abstract black metal nightmare exclusively glorifying and worshiping the annihilation of all existence - a colossal debut album of total avant-black mindfuckery that has taken the aesthetic of bands like Aosoth, Abigor, Deathspell Omega, and Anthaeus and deformed it and disfigured it further - creating a swarming chasm of mutated black chaos worship that pulverizes the psyche and ravages the flesh.

CVLT Nation is now exclusively streaming the track Resurgence of Primordial Void Aperture - calling DSKNT's offering an "absolutely insane debut album - complete disintegration of the soul". You can check out the song and their feature HERE

Coming on cassette through Sentient Ruin on December 4 2017, on CD through Italian extreme metal label Clavi Secretorum, and then in early 2018 on vinyl again through Sentient Ruin in the US and Babylon Doom Cult Records in the EU - PhSPHR Entropy is already slated to become one of the greatest black metal releases of the year.

2018's vinyl edition will see the album released in two different color configurations: a limited black vinyl run, along with a standard edition LP pressed on clear vinyl with a black haze. All formats can now be pre-ordered on our store or Bandcamp.

MALEFIC LEVITATION: Californian Black/Death Duo Unveil Obliterating Debut EP - Track Streaming at CVLT Nation.

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.

CALQUES: Alabama Deviant Raw Black Noise Duo Debut With "Civilizing" - Track Streaming at CVLT Nation

Formed by members of raw punk pedal abusing miscreants Hadals and Japanese Women, and gravitating around the world of cult underground tape label Tapes Of A Neon god (RIP), Calques is an industrial/noise/punk/raw black metal band formed in 2016 in Montgomery, Alabama. Begotten within the crushing mental oppression of a decaying southern town, Calques decided to embrace what they most despised and use it as a weapon to summon total aural war and to face their most crushing miseries. Playing lo-fi black metal filtered through lurid and demented noise rock riffs and a vile shroud of harsh noise, Calques’ music is the sound of failure and of outcasts - of the deprived pushed into the red and their torment then channeled through the cheapest recording devices possible with the worst instruments available.

Within this hell-ridden framework of audial disembodiment, Calques have birthed their debut EP Civilizing - taking the lacerating approach to raw black metal of bands like Ildjarn and Bone Awl, and making it collide against the abrasive and nerve-wrecking raw punk of bands like Raw Nerve and Cult Ritual, and the noisy pedal and knob abuse of deviants like Gnaw Their Tongues and Sutekh Hexen, and finally, choking out everything in a mangled and sanguine strangulation of completely collapsing and self-harming noise rock deviancy.

Calques’ music is the sound of trying to bypass self reflection and failing, of hissing static, and of deviant punk riffs with no glory, no posturing or sleek production anywhere in sight, and with no grandiose atmospheric melodies even hinted at. All you get from Calques is the misery and oppression, the shortcomings, the failures, the ugliness, and the unappealing blight of the southern reality vomited on you through a swarm of shattered glass, mangled nerves, and razor wire.

CALQUES
Civilizing

1. Periurbanization
2. Exurbanisation
3. Galvanization
4. Conversation
5. Decomposition

CVLT Nation have now unveiled Galvanization - the first lacerating track taken from Calques' vile debut EP - stating that it is "a work of staggering ugliness and of completely repugnant hostility". You can listen to the track and read the feature HERE.

Civilizing drops as a limited edition cassette tape + digital product on October 13 2017 - you can now pre-order it on our store or Bandcamp.

PETRIFICATION: Old School Death Metal Butchers Release "Summon Horrendous Destruction" on 7" Vinyl.

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We have just released the 7" vinyl version of Portland OR-based death metal butchers Petrification's debut demo Summon Horrendous Destruction. This devastating demo was first released on tape last March, with the two pressings that were done selling out in record time and these cassettes becoming an instant collector's item. The original tape pressing received widespread acclaim with many top metal publications like Decibel Magazine and Metal Injection praising the band's reckless and original approach to super destructive old school death metal. CVLT Nation has called Summon Horrendous Destruction a “glorious slab of putrefying sonic death” and a “gore-obsessed frenzy of decaying sonic rot and of punishing death metal chaos”. Petrification’s old school death metal trudge truly is a gruesome thing to behold - their music batters the flesh and smashes bone with the cruelty of an orc unleashed from hell, and their debut demo Summon Horrendous Destruction is a glorious onslaught of mummified and gross as fuck old school death metal that will delight fans of Autopsy, Nihilist, Grave, Cruciamentum, Disma etc.

Petrification was formed in 2014 by Tom Roberts aka WarVest after moving from Houston to Portland, OR following his departure from the band WarMaster. Arriving with the intention to start a new Death Metal outfit more evil and heavy than anything he had done before, he would later run into Mario Thunder at a show, whom had also moved from Texas with the plan of playing extreme and fucked up Metal. Early practices began in NE Portland and shortly after Jason, who had relocated with Mario from Dallas, joined as vocalist. Wanting to add a second guitarist, the band tried out several people and after a few failed auditions finally recruited fellow Texan David to helm the strings. One last change in the lineup would occur with the departure of bassist Tyler Wolfe, his replacement Portland native Nukes would solidify the demo-lineup. 

Petrification formed out of their love of Old School Swedish, British and particularly Finnish Death Metal, wanting to create music that while an homage to its roots, allowed its members to find their own unique voice in Extreme Metal. Drawn to the evil and doom-laden soundscapes of the Finnish Masters, Petrification set out to meticulously craft their own vision in the writing of the demo Summon Horrendous Destruction, lyrically and sonically conjuring apparitions of giant, man-eating Arachnids and other horrors that lurk on the edge of the Void awaiting their victims.

PETRIFICATION
Summon Horrendous Destruction

1. Summon Horrendous Destruction
2. Stagnation of Transmigration view
3. The Headless One view
4. Desecrators of Conscious Entropy

The Summon Horrendous Destruction vinyl 7" (which comes as a standard red or limited black 7" with amazing artwork done by Petrification singer and renewed graphic artist Jason Barnett) is a corelease between SR and To The Death Records (EU), and is available for order immediately through our store and Bandcamp and already shipping worldwide. 

petrificationdm.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/petrificationdm