夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker): Enigmatic Psychedelic Black Metal Experimentalists Unveil Mind-Bending Sophomore LP - Track Premiered at Invisible Oranges.

We proudly bring you 一期一会 (Ichi-go ichi-e) the once again unparalleled sophomore LP from elusive multinational psychedelic/avantgarde black metal enigma 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker) set to be officially released in the US by Sentient Ruin on cassette, digital, and and 12" vinyl on May 25 2018

一期一会 (Ichi-go ichi-e): "for this time only, never again". This japanese idiom is the central theme of the new, second, unbelievable album of the same name by the elusive psychedelic/avantgarde black metal enigma 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker). Once again fusing drone, raw black metal, kraut/psychedelic rock, free-jazz, noise rock, and tribal ritualism to absolutely mind-melting effect, Sleepwalker's idea behind this new record was to take central superstitions that rule the rhetoric of eastern lore and funnel them through the prism of the modern world. The final result: the band's staple psychedelic black metal mind-fuck ritual gloriously preserved and burning brighter and more insanely than ever. Suspended between the visionary opposites of bands like Voivod, Zeni Geva, Oxbow, King Crimson, Oranssi Pazuzu, Lurker of Chalice, and Xasthur, with "一期一会" Sleepwalker have once again proven to be one of the most mind-expanding and visionary experimental black metal acts of our times.

Invisible Oranges has premiered the track Never Through a Threshold (you can read their feature and listen to the track HERE), calling 一期一会 an "instantaneous density of sound both aggressive and distant, airy and full of rage".

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.

Pre-orders for all formats(tapes, digital, gold and black vinyl) are now available on our store and Bandcamp, while the release will be handled in the EU once again by the Annapurna label (also providing a CD release).

NOVAE MILITIAE: 2017 Crushing Sophomore Album by French Black Metal Miscreants Sees Tape and Vinyl Release.

We are proud to finally issue the vinyl and tape release of French black metal abomination Novae Militiae's 2017 sophomore album Gash’khalah originally released on CD by Goathorned Prods. The Gatefold 2LP (coreleased by Argento Records in the EU) and limited edition cassette tape are now available for purchase on our store and Bandcamp.

Evil, blasphemous, hideous, and utterly horrific, on their sophomore LP this mysterious French black metal entity summon total armageddon. In strict adherence to France's infamous tradition of birthing the most heinous and fucked black metal imaginable, Gash’khalah does not disappoint, spewing forth a wretched swarm of otherworldly aural annihilation that engulfs the listener like a blaze. In an attempt to harness complete and unadulterated ruin, on Gash’khalah Novae Militiae meticulously unravel almost an hour of vile and blasphemous sonic trauma that paints a picture of absolutely daunting horror. Through a sapient and unorthodox interweaving of unsettling atmospheres, deviant religious commentary, warped and disorienting instrumental passages, and an absolutely crushing delivery, Gash’khalah's hideous silhouette takes shape through the same realms of ruin and torment that have birthed masterpieces by other similar French black metal aberrations like Aosoth, Deathspell Omega, Antaeus, etc.

Mysterious, recluse, and hermetically obscure, as is in the proudest French black metal tradition, Novae Militiae are sonic miscreants of the most vile and unholy form. Nothing is known about the band, their origins, intents, nor the members that form it. As such Novae Militiae are one of those rare cases these days in which the music truly is the only thing that speaks, and indeed it does speak in a mysterious and ominous tongue, from a place of immeasurable malevolence. As in their peers like Deathspell Omega, Novae Militiae spew forth a chaotic deluge of utter destruction which obsessively deals with theological themes from a deconstructive standpoint, aiming at empirically tearing down every holy notion embraced by man and mocking it in blasphemous carnage. Through a sonic framework of apocalyptically violent compositions, otherworldly atmospheres, and surreal commentary about the mockery and utter ridicule that is the theological realm of men, Novae Militiae have created a blood-soaked sonic armageddon that is drenched in utmost hatred for the human race and all its false and empty idols.

PETRIFICATION: Portland Death Metal Orcs Unveil Butchering Debut Album - Videos Premiered at Metal Injection and Revolver.

Bastard old school death metal orcs Petrification return with their gruesomely bludgeoning debut full-length album - Hollow of the Void , set to be released on April 23rd 2018 through Sentient Ruin (US vinyl/tape), Memento Mori (worldwide CD), Dawnbreed Records (EU vinyl/tape), and To The Death Records (EU vinyl co-release). 

On Hollow of the Void the Petrification unleash a lawless legion of pummeling and brain-eating riffs designed to annihilate the listener and wreck havoc upon their flesh. Through these eleven new cuts of decaying brutality and mental abuse, the Portland death metal butchers unleash a barrage of classically gruesome and traditionally repulsive death metal chaos that worships directly at the rotting altar of legends Autopsy, Nihilist, Grave, Convulse, Funebre, Grave etc., while also setting their footmark as a visionary and ambitious entity all of their own, set on a path of total visual and sonic self-determination within the most liminal realms of absurd death metal de(con)struction.

Petrification had set them selves instantly aside as something special and unique straight from their beginnings. When we released their debut demo Summon Horrendous Destruction last year people instantly connected to their absurd and meticulous visual style and personal formula of musically regressed/aesthetically evolved death metal, with the cassette tapes going sold out within days, and the following 7" disappearing just as quick.

With a visual artist of the caliber of vocalist Jason Barnett, and with some of Portlands most gifted shredders within their ranks (mastermind behind Cursed Death visuals), it was inevitable that Petrification would instantly rise above the pack. Summon Horrendous Destruction introduced a band to the world which musically and visually left no stone unturned, and pushed the envelope of death metal in every possible way while also worshipping and cherishing its most visceral and ancestral roots. Today, Hollow of the Void will fully shows the world the true breadth and scope of Petrification's gruesome and glorious old school death metal and of their unique sonic and visual aesthetics that the band blends seamlessly to devastating effects. All you need to do is take a look at the two mind-bending music videos the band created on their own and which Metal Injection and Revolver Magazine premiered HERE and HERE respectively - two fine examples of the band's unquestionable audio-visual superiority among their peers. 

It becomes superfluous to say that visionary artist and vocalist Jason Barnett has taken his visual skills to the next level on this new release and debut LP offering of his menacing death metal machine, presenting the world with a CD, tape and LP presentation which is absolutely glorious, gruesome, unique, and beautiful in every possible way and packed with stunning imagery from his hallucinatory paintings wrapped in colorful graphics. Limited black vinyl will be available, or standard white vinyl and/or purple/green splatter vinyl as well through Sentient Ruin (US), or through To The Death Records and Dawnbreed Records cooperatively (EU). The casse tape will come in the US from Sentient Ruin as well, and from Dawnbreed in the EU, while the CD will be handled worldwide by Memento Mori.

Hollow of the Void will drop on April 23 as one of our most anticipated releases of the year, and pre-orders for tapes, digital, and LPs are now active on our store and Bandcamp.

ASSUMPTION: Italian Death-Doom Sorcerers Unveil Absolutely Colossal Debut Album - Track Premiered at No Clean Singing.

We are extremely honored and proud to present you with the release of Abscondidus, by Italian death-doom behemoths Assumption.

Assumption return with their otherworldly debut LP - once again dragging the listener to a warped and hallucinatory twilight zone lost at the edge of the cosmos. Within the crushing vastness of these three colossal songs the listener will feel the weight of omnipotent emptiness pushing them down toward the singularity where they are slowly pulled apart by invisible tidal forces before they decay into nothingness.

The first taste of total cosmic death has been unveiled by No Clean Singing, who have premiered album opener Liberation, calling the track "haunting, hallucinatory, and horrific" - check out the feature and listen HERE.

Assumption are an enigmatic Italian extreme metal duo devoted to the meticulous unravelling of grandiose and slow-moving dirges of colossal death-doom. The band was formed around 2011 by two fixture figures in Italian extreme metal hailing from such bands as Haemophagus, Gravesite, Stasis, Undead Creep, Morbo etc. Upon conception the duo set out to write desolating and majestic death/doom metal entwined with mind-expanding psychedelic passages that would place the listener at the center of a vacuous and hallucinatory realm of collapsing existence and omnipotent emptiness, conjuring the same surreal and otherworldly atmospheres and moods as seen in legendary progenitors of the genre like diSEMBOWELMENT, early Esoteric or Thergothon. After their suffocating debut demo tape/CD Mosaic of the Distant Dominion saw the light in 2012, Assumption followed up two years later unleashing in 2014 an undisputed masterpiece in the genre, the monstrously colossal and bludgeoning The Three Appearances CD (released on Terror from Hell Records) now hailed by many as one of the best examples of extreme death/doom of the last years. Plans for a vinyl release of the devastating MLP never materialized but the band carried forth in their sonic exploration of outer realms of existence reconvening soon after to write and record their most majestic and soul-disintegrating opus to date - the colossal three-track LP Absconditus

With incredible art by Lauri Laaksonen of Desolate Shrine fame Absconditus will see the light on April 20 2018 through Sentient Ruin in the US (cassette), and Everlasting Spew Records in the EU (CD). The vinyl release is scheduled from both labels for a late summer release, while cassettes can be pre-ordered now on our store or Bandcamp.

CULT OF EXTINCTION: German One-Man Black/Death Aberration Reveals Debut Demo/EP - Track Premiered at Metal Injection.

Nuclear-born and flesh-tearing war metal decimation from Germany. Cult of Extinction's debut demo tape/7" is a bludgeoning sonic weapon that has taken the mindless and lawless black/death/grind savagery fusion of war metal and dragged into a hellish trudge of crushing downtuned hostility. Throughout these absurd and castigating thirteen minutes of lawless sonic terror, the listener will be fighting for their life to try and dodge the senseless barrage of chaos and destruction summoned by Cult of Extinction to completely annihilate and eradicate their existence.

Get a glimpse into the sonic armageddon of Cult of Extinction courtesy of Metal Injection who are now streaming the the first track from the EP. You can listen to the Gazing Upon the Eternal Throne of Death and read their feature HERE.

Vinyl 7"s and cassette tapes for Black Nuclear Magick Attack officially release on March 30 2018 and you can now pre-order both along with digital products on our store and Bandcamp.

Elusive and recluse german multi instrumentalist Void is the sole entity behind the unholy war metal abomination Cult of Extinction. With songs written in complete seclusion, home-recorded and completely DIY Cult of Extinction is an aberrant breeding ground for the most horrid sonic destruction. Within its bluedgeonig, chaotic, and lawless songs one can hear the godless wrath of bands like Revenge, Temple Nightside, Nuclearholocaust, and Blasphemy being taken to a whole new extreme as speeds approach imploding points and the crushing low end of insanely downtuned guitars and bass develops into a bellowing and howling vacuum of utter destruction, conceived with the sole aim of achieving total aural decimation, by any means necessary.

BLACK EARTH: Sophomore MLP from Spanish Black Noise Sorcerers Sees Tape Re-release and First Ever Vinyl Release.

It is with immense pride and excitement that we bring you the first ever vinyl release for Diagrams of a Hidden Order - Black Earth's sophomore MLP. Originally released in 2016 by In Solace Publishing on tape and by Malignant Records on CD, Sentient Ruin and Bile Noire (EU vinyl) now proudly bring you the first vinyl release and deluxe tape re-release of this smoldering masterpiece of disembodied incantations and wretched atmospherics.

Consisting of multi-instrumentalists Alejandro Durán, Alejandro Tedín, Miguel A. García, Black Earth are a trio from Spain devoted to uncovering some of the most abominable and liminal sounds that lurk within the darkest corners of our imagination. Their sonic constructs of scathing black ambience are like soundtrack music dipped in the unholy murk of the Styx and then strung across a starless vault of infinite black. Begotten within a broken realm of crawling chaos Black Earth's highly ritualistic and demonic compositions blend together the most scorching and unsettling strains of electronic music and metal to evoke visions and sentiments of unfathomable vastness and wretchedness, in which the mind is first trapped and then destroyed.

Diagrams of a Hidden Order masterfully brings together black metal, industrial, scorching noise scarifications, and dark ambient to summon a haunting and grotesque sonic chasm of sublime and mind-expanding aural cacophony. Similarly to the aesthetic of other abstract sound sculptors of the most liturgic, evil, and wretched craft like Wold, Gnaw Their Tongues, Emanation, and Sutekh Hexen, Black Earth weave and coerce together otherworldly atmospherics, dismal atmospheres, and ear-splitting electronics to paint a daunting sonic arabesque of utter horror and dismay.

What we bring you is a single sided 12"LP in two different vinyl colors: clear w/ black haze (standard), or black vinyl (limited quantity). The cassette version is an incredibly limited product in every possible way. Comes housed in a fold-over charcoal black matte cardostock case letterpressed/embossed with metallic silver ink graphics. Containing it is a sealed metallic anti-static bag that gives a semi-lucid/transparent effect. An extra download card is inside. Only 40 available - a SR online shop exclusive. These cassettes are the remaining stock of the initial pressing released by In Solace Publishing. SR has purchased and re-pakacked all the remaining stock of tapes to coincide with the vinyl release.

Diagrams of a Hidden Order  vinyl and tapes are available for purchase on our store and Bandcamp and shipping worldwide immediately.

CHAOS ECHŒS: Sentient Ruin Releases Massive "The Occursus Series" Cassette Box Set.

We are proud to present you our first cassette box set ever, for the french experimental death metal band Chaos Echoes, in cooperation with Spanish label Bile Noire - crafted and brought to you keeping in mind solely the highest degrees possible of visual, auditive, and tactile presentation. Chaos Echoes play a unique style of ritualistic Death metal with a high dose of well-used improvisation and experimentation mixed with ambiance sections that get you immersed into a twisted and oppressive atmosphere. The Occursus Series is a collection of three releases that includes the first band's rehearsal recorded in 2012, their second EP Duo Experience /Spectral Affinities originally self-released in 2013, and a live recording from 2013 at La Boule Noire (Paris).

The insane box set comes housed in a beautifully crafted black matte box with embossed gloss varnish Chaos Echoes Emblem. Each tape comes with silver imprint and housed in a beautiful charcoal black cardstock j-card printed with offset silver metallic ink. Included in the box is a 12 page charcoal black cardstock photo booklet also printed with offset silver metallic inks. A download card for each album is contained within. An online shop exclusive (no distro or retail) only 100 of these boxes were made, 50 for sale in the US through Sentient Ruin, and 50 in the EU from Bile Noire.

From NUCLEAR WAR NOW! PRDS.: "Deriving their name from the last album by their predecessors, Bloody Sign, Chaos Echoes established themselves as France’s masters of Avant Garde Death after quietly releasing a series of EPs featuring the band’s characteristically unorthodox material. Combining magnificent complexity, an exceptionally high degree of musicianship, and a distinct sense of experimentalism, Chaos Echoes is among the most captivating bands in the underground – a band truly incapable of simple categorization."  

France's Chaos Echoes are truly one of the most unique, forward-thinking, mind-bending, and genre defying metal bands to emerge in the underground in recent times. Their ritualistic death-doom finds such a high degree of expression nowhere else, while their keen sense of experimentalism and free-form approach to extreme metal have always yielded time after a time an utterly magnificent, mesmerizing, and extremely profound body of work. Within their framework of jazzy, lysergic, and almost unpredictable death metal one can always distill the purest essence of improvisation, as it is meant to be only in the most ambitious and purest forms of unshackled artistry. With no boundaries or rules limiting them, Chaos Echoes have always reached beyond and tapped into the unknown, bringing together time after time some of the most extraordinary and unsettling forms of musical synthesis ever achieved by extreme metal. With songs blending death-doom, prog, kraut, free-jazz, drone, and immaterial tribal ritualism, and demos and EPs released as live improvised recordings, albums on such respected strongholds of extreme metal authority such as Nuclear War Now! always showing a fathomless ambition and experimentalism, and artwork always lying on the border between the absurd and the grandiose, Chaos Echoes have been consistently since 2011 one of the greatest bands in experimental underground metal.

Get The Occursus Series on our store or Bandcamp.

MISRULE: Annihilating One-Man DeathGrind Abomination Unleashes Bludegeoning Debut Demo - Track Premiered at Metal Injection.

Unrelenting and completely out of control, Forced to Suffer is the ghastly debut demo tape by Portland, OR one man extreme death/grind aberration MISRULE. Drawing life from the most abhorrent and scary strains of grindcore and extreme metal (as seen for example in other similarly sanity-defying acts like Vermin Womb, Knelt Rote, Plague Widow, Infernal Coil etc.), MISRULE is an unrestrained and completely uncontrolled exercise in total aural terror. Within its framework of devastating extreme metal and tumefying aggression lies a critical mass of collapsing emotions and unravelling psychological horror that have yielded a mere eight minutes of absolutely unfathomable sonic terror, funneled by sole mastermind S. Mahoney into a coercitive and utterly pulverizing amalgamation of ferocious grindcore obliteration and merciless blackened death metal chaos that defies any categorization.

To get the first glimpse into the utter nightmare that is MISRULE head over to Metal Injection and read the feature + stream Lead to the Grave - the first bludgeoning track extrapolated from the demo. You can find their feature HERE.

S. Mahoney is the sole mastermind behind MISRULE, for which he writes, records, and masters everything on his own and also curates the project's artwork and visual aspect. Having taken the project's moniker from a Nightbringer song, with the creation of MISRULE Mahoney has set out on a lonely voyage toward total self-disintegration, birthing an extreme metal aberration whose sole purpose is that of exploring the many possibilities and unknown ramifications of total and unadulterated aural terror. With speeds and intensity that approach imploding point, atmospheres and moods which are those of actual hell, and a heaviness so crushing it seems coming from some remote realm of the absurd, MISRULE is nothing short than a terrifying experiment - a test in the survival of the psyche and in the resistance of the flesh against the most liminal odds of sonic obliteration. The sheer insanity and brutality of the music are however far from being the only scope and reach of the project. With MISRULE Mahoney has in fact created a vessel for him to explore and expunge a wide array of personal torments, and use the project as a cathartic weapon to give voice to some of the most blighted and afflicting inner torments, funneling unbearable sentiments of hatred, pain, disillusionment, abandon and resignation into a hideous musical experiment. The end result is complete armageddon - a sonic abomination that while punishing the senses with unseen sonic spite, comes also laced with a barrage of emotional and psychological horror which makes MISRULE truly a multidimensional sonic horror like none other.

To be officially released on March 2 2018, you can now preorder Forced to Suffer demo tapes + digital products on our store and Bandcamp.