ROTTING SKY
Active since at least 2007, and always existing withering within a shadowtorn twilight of near non-existence, Rotting Sky is one of the most enigmatic and ungraspabale extreme/experimental metal mysteries to have ever materialized on American soil. Sole Rotting Sky mastermind Timm Messing is known as the guitarist of legendary epic crust punk/metal powerhouse Nux Vomica (and later of noise-trodden punks Rohit), but it's within this solo ambient industrial black metal endeavor of his that one can truly grasp the full extent of his visionary and transcendental creative reach. The project began in Portland, Oregon during Messing’s youth and materiazlied via a string of home made demos (2007’s “Portraits of Self-Destruction” and “The Burden of Flesh” demos, 2009’s “Hellgaze” demo, and 2013’s “Ghost” demo), all treading the grainy confines of primitive drone, home-made funeral doom, and deconstructed, lo-fi industrial. 2014 saw the project’s blossoming and Messing’s undisputed talent and vision coming to its full fruition with his unrivaled masterwork “Sedation”, a full-length masterclass of home-made experimental underground extreme metal introducing novel raw black metal elements and erected upon a monumental maze of pedal abuse, field recordings, and layers upon layers of wretched static and caustic frequencies. With no Sentient Ruin around yet (but the release already noticed), the album was picked up by now defunct San Diego-based tape label Grimoire Cassette Cvlture for a limited cassette release, before the label folded and the release fell back into obscurity. Four years later, around 2018, Sentient Ruin had evolved into releasing vinyl, so the inevitable happened. “Sedation” saw a tape reissue as well as its first ever release on vinyl, which quickly sold out. The vinyl version was then reissued by Sentient Ruin in early 2026, accompanied by the album’s first ever edition on CD.