SHAIDAR LOGOTH: US Black Metal Monstrosity Issue "Chapter II: The Ritualist" for the First Time Ever on Vinyl.

Sentient Ruin (US) and Clavis Secretorum (EU) are honored to announce the first ever release on vinyl for a true long lost masterpiece of USBM - Shaidar Logoth's Chapter II: The Ritualist

Originally released in 2015 by cult tape label Sol Y Nieve on a limited run of tapes, Shaidar Logoth's towering and imposing black metal masterpiece Chapter II: The Ritualist went all but unnoticed and now finally sees its first ever release on vinyl through a staggering audio-visual presentation customized to fit the utter majesty and uniqueness of the music. With The Ritualist Shaidar Logoth have unchained a black metal beast of utmost dread and unshackeled it of any form or restraint to let its turbulent and primordial instinct roam free to find its inevitable fate in inexorable chaos and destruction. Within these four vast movements of sickeningly magnificent atmospherics and dismal aural torment the listener will face the same infernal hallucinations and blood-chilling premonitions of horror and afflcition which have famously plagued other secretive and reticent black metal projects like Leviathan, Katharsis, Blut Aus Nord, S.V.E.S.T., Skaphe etc.

Always enigmatic, withdrawn, and rigorously shadow-dwelling, Shaidar Logoth silently emerged in Minnesota in late 2010 from a vision of mastermind and multi-instrumentalist Steven Henningsgard. Henningsgard set out to write and record years of ideas and riffs completely on his own, enlisting vocalist Adam Clemans (of Wolvhammer, Noose Rot, Skeletonwitch fame etc.) to help him complete his wretched vision. The result materialized as their hideous and foul debut demo/EP Chapter I: The Peddler - 30 minutes of raw and unforgiving black metal which viciously showcased the band's own plagued extreme metal formula made of ancestral and pestilent Scandinavian black metal fused with modern and unorthodox elements ranging from trance-inducing vortex-like passages, to progressive/psychedelic dirges, and obscure ambient ritualism.

Their proper debut album Chapter II: The Ritualist surfaced four years later in 2015 through a tape release from Sol Y Nieve revealing a massive evolution and broad improvement across their already magnificently detrimental sound architecture, with their songwriting and their sound especially now hinting at beast-like traits. Across its massive four tracks The Ritualist explored every notion of aural misery imaginable, tormenting the listener with lengthly and winding flailings of venomous black metal punctuated with dismal drone and dark ambient passages and thick layers of infernal and hallucinatory atmospherics.

Chapter II: The Ritualist can be now purchased from Sentient Ruin on our store and Bandcamp, as well as from Clavis Secretorum in the EU. The LP is available only in black vinyl and comes housed in a custom folder heavy black cardboard cover + insert printed with Pantone metallic silver.

VOID ROT: Minnesota Death/Doom Unit Unveil Grandiose Debut MLP - Track Premiered at Toilet Ov Hell.

Sentient Ruin is proud to present to the world a new entity which we are sure will leave its mark in US underground extreme metal in years to come. 

Hailing from Minneapolis MN, Void Rot are devoted to constructing massive and soul-consuming dirges of monstrous death-doom that is influenced by the glorious progenitors of majestic, atmospheric, and slow moving death metal like Winter, Rippikoulu, Disembowelment, early Paradise Lost, Incantation, etc.

With their debut MLP Consumed by Oblivion Void Rot unravel 15+ minis of earth-shaking and telluric death-doom that erupts from the depths of hades and pulverizes into the cosmos, weaving ancestral death metal and atmospheric doom into a dismal and soul-crushing deluge of riffs to construct a sonic colossus of unseen enormity, which will be sure to please all fans of bands like Spectral Voice, Anhedonist, Inverloch, Indesinence, Krypts.

Within their imposing compositions Void Rot weave light and darkness seamlessly and with unseen mastery, evoking atmospheres of unparalleled vastness that alternate majestically between sidereal and contemplative psychedelia, and visceral and bludgeoning heaviness. Consumed by Oblivion is an iconic and proud example of true american death-doom as seen at its finest hour as it masterfully distills the void of space and the loneliness of the cosmos and bends them to impact the crushing misery of our earthly reality. The end result is a seismic monolith of spine-breaking riffs and warped atmospheres that while glorifying death-doom's most distinctive traits also elevates the genere to an entire new level.

Consumed by Oblivion officially drops August 3 2018 on tape + digital and on CD + digital on Sentient Ruin and Everlasting Spew Records respectfully, while both labels have an LP version in the works as well slated for the end of the year. You can now hear the title track from the monstrous LP over at Toilet Ov Hell, and pre-order tapes and detail products from Sentient Ruin at our store or Bandcamp.

ABSTRACTER: Californian Blackened Doom Unit Unveil Haunting and Crushing Third LP - Track Premiered at Invisible Oranges.

Perhaps now assuming their ultimate and most ghastly form, Abstracter return with their most astonishingly telluric, bleak, and hopeless album to date. On their third and brand new LP Cinereus Incarnate the Oakland CA dark doom band unravel a blood-curdling sonic tale about a nightmarish world cursed to eternal twilight, where reality is torn to pieces and existence is reduced to the final stages of survival. Taking form through a deluge of suffocating distortion and dismal atmospheres that defies any categorization, Abstracter have created an hallucinatory and apocalyptic work that oozes with an immanent and oppressive sense of defeat and of unravelling hope, fusing together crust, black, doom, death metal, and cancerous strains of noise, drone, and dark ambient to summon a soul-crushing sonic cataclysm of utter misery and despair.

This brand new album sees Abstracter move further away from their origins and experiment even more with drone, dark ambient, (harsh) noise, black and death metal, while also vastly enhancing their primordial pool of influences centered around Corrupted’s slow-moving crushing doom nihilism, Amebix’s apocalyptic end-times crust, and Godflesh cold and dissonant crush-depth. At the core of the earth-shaking sonic annihilation of the album lies however an even vaster and intelligible plethora of influences ranging from Blut Aus Nord, Dystopia, Swans, Disembowelment, to Skullflower, Winter, Khanate and Celtic Frost which Abstracter have coerced together to erect an obsidian black wall of monstrous sound that levitates out of solid darkness crushing and devouring everything in its path. The end result is a terrifying listen and the absolute pinnacle in the band’s eight-year long sonic exploration. With its ghastly atmospheres choked by noisy dark ambience and its colossal progressions of shapeshifting black/death/doom, Cinereus Incarnate is a catastrophic listen - a sonic ordeal about a wretched world fallen to its knees in which the lines between life and hell, and reality and nightmare have been vaporized as existence sinks into a tormented shadowzone obscured by falling ash and nuclear fallout.

Invisible oranges have premiered the track Ashen Reign, calling Cinereus Incarnate "a sinister execution of doom, death, black, and sludge metal". You can checkout their article and stream the track HERE.

Recorded and mixed by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios (Vastum, Undergang, Acephalix, Autopsy, Graves At Sea, Noothgrush etc.) in Oakland CA, and mastered at Audiosiege in Portland OR by Brad Boatright (Nails, Wolfbrigade, Full of Hell, Vallenfyre etc), the monstrous album comes with an appallingly dense, layered, and oppressive production and features haunting dark ambient soundscapes and noise contributions by Sutekh Hexen’s own visual/noise luminary Kevin Gan Yuen (who also curated the album’s grandiose and apocalyptic art) and by San Francisco-based dark industrial musician Only Now - an unholy alliance which has yielded a sonic behemoth unlike anything else with an absolutely annihilating and otherworldly sound. Cinereus Incarnate is slated to be released on June 8 2018 through Sentient Ruin (tape/US LP), Vendetta Records (EU LP), Tartarus Records (EU tape), I Voidhanger Records (CD), and Daymare Recordings (Japanese enhanced CD with a cover of Amebix's  Fear of God as a bonus track) - pre-orders for all formats are live on the band's Bandcamp, or on our store or Bandcamp.

 

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.

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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.

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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.