黒い樹海 (KUROI JUKAI): Elusive Canadian Noisegrind/Powerviolence Suicide Commando Issue Posthumous Sole Release for the First Time Ever on Vinyl.

Sentient Ruin is honored and proud to bring you a first ever vinyl pressing of the only, monumentally annihilating release to have ever surfaced from short-lived and highly elusive Edmonton AB-based Canadian powerviolence/noisegrind suicide commando 黒い樹海 ("Kuroi Jukai", Japanese for "black sea of trees"), who existed for a short time during 2015. The band played an uncompromising and unorthodox blend of ferocious hardcore/grind with fringe strains of power electronics and industrial noise, creating a blunt and unrelenting wall of pulverizing sonic chaos. In its short existence the band wrote and recorded a single release, the ten-minute self-titled tape released in 2015 by Canadian harsh noise label Aught/Void, which also featured a live recording from a single gig.

By the time the release had posthumously surfaced on cassette in April 2015 through Aught\Void, 黒い樹海 had already ceased to exist, becoming somewhat of a mystery in the Canadian punk and extreme/experimental underground. But this lone self-titled effort has since remained untouched as undisputed testament of the band's visionary quest for complete sonic ruin and remains a crowning achievement amongst the most ambitious and sophisticated noisegrind and underground extreme hardcore punk releases of the decade. 

Sentient Ruin has now remastered the audio and upgraded the artwork for a limited and final vinyl release (minus the live track). Set for official release on February 21 2020 the limited edition 7" of only 200 units is pressed to crystal clear vinyl, and comes in a black uncoated cardstock cover + insert both silkscreened with metallic silver ink, download card, PVC bag, hype sticker - pre-orders and full stream are now active on our Bandcamp and shop.

With songs averaging thirty seconds in length and a sound pushed over the edge by a ruinous syncretism with fringe strains of harsh noise and power electronics, the harrowing mini LP is a conduit for armageddon that elevates the notion of audial terrorism to an extreme rarely before seen, all while the listener is obliterated with a violence and urgency that appears both senseless and baffling. Just as we've seen in other highly evolved experimental and extremized hardcore/grind bands like Knelt Rote, Column of Heaven, Endless Blockade, Hatred Surge, and "I&II" era Friendship, 黒い樹海 have wielded the extreme-end spectrum of experimental noise and industrial electronics like a blunt weapon of audial terrorism to take their incinerating experimental hardcore/grind delirium where conventional metal/punk could not fathom to go. With boundaries annihilated and experimentation tyrannically enforced beyond the point of no return, in the staggering ten-minute aural declaration of total war, 黒い樹海 initiate a chain reaction of irreversible destruction that never relents, terminating their incomprehensible and lightning-fast sonic suicide mission into a mortal full-on collision with the listener that leaves no escape. 

ASSUMPTION: "The Three Appearances", 2014 Debut MLP from italian death-Doom Titans, Sees First Ever Vinyl Release.

Sentient Ruin is honored to release Assumption’s debut MLP The Three Appearances for the first ever time on vinyl in collaboration with Italy’s Everlasting Spew Records. Three Appearances has been released for pre-order on our shop and Bandcamp and will be officially shipping on February 14 2019. The amazing LP has been pressed in a limited black/blue color variant and on standard black vinyl, and comes with the original 2014 CD artwork but with a revised layout and includes a black insert silkscreened with metallic silver ink.

Originally released on a limited run of CDs in 2014 by Italian label Terror From Hell, Assumption's The Three Appearances is one of the most imposing and enigmatic death-doom releases of this decade. Perhaps too unique and ambitious to be fully understood at the time of its release,the colossal thirty-minute EP is a masterwork of experimental slow moving death metal domination whose visionary enormity has thus far been unfortunately been matched solely by its unfortunate struggle to be noticed and recognized as the masterpiece that it is.

Fast forward five years later, the band has been finally and rightfully dominating European stages playing the likes of Killtown Deathfest, Asakusa Deathfest in Japan, and sharing the stage with bands like Skepticism, Esoteric and Evoken, while this somewhat forgotten EP has slipped further and further from people's memory, becoming a lost treasure of contemporary death-doom. Today, with its first ever release on vinyl Sentient Ruin and Everlasting Spew (EU) aim at paying due homage and service to a release of inestimable power and importance that has sanctioned the birth and rise of one of death-doom's most under-appreciated but visionary contemporary death metal acts.

Over the course of its four movements and thirty minutes of dismal heaviness and towering sonic enormity The Three Appearances glorifies death-doom in all its most iconic and beloved traits while redefining and reimagining the genre all-together, pushing it into an even more profound, refined, and dramatic dualism made of bludgeoning death metal riff mastery and ethereal and contemplative psychedelic virtuosity. Fusing the neck-snapping riff extravaganza of bands like Bolt Thrower, Grave, and Asphyx with the tenebrous hallucinogenic crawl of bands like Winter, Incantation and Disembowelment and the mournful and contemplative dirges of masters of slow and dismal atmospherics like Thergothon and Skepticism The Three Appearances projects a monstrous aura against a liquefying backdrop of lysergic atmospheres and mind-altering ambience that makes the listener feel enlightened and consciously augmented while simultaneously being slowly consumed and crushed by gravitational tides and invisible cosmic forces beyond human comprehension.

MORTAL INCARNATION: Japanese Psychedelic Death-Doom Destroyers To Issue Colossal Debut EP On Tape Via Sentient Ruin (LP To Follow).

Tokyo-based Japanese death-doom destroyers Mortal Incarnation debut with Lunar Radiant Dawn, a two-track, sixteen-minute dirge of colossal and otherworldly atmospheric death metal that towers over this year's death-doom output as one of the most imposing and spellbinding manifestations the genre has seen all year. On the mesmerizing EP the Japanese four piece have masterfully harnessed the majesty and alien experimentalism first conceptualized by legendary death-doom progenitors dISEMBOWELMENT, and fused it with the merciless darkness of bands like Morbid Angel, Immolation and Incantation, to sublimate into an imposing sonic entity of unseen majesty and enormity. Unyieldingly heavy and dark, yet profoundly mystical and contemplative, through the sapient interviewing of baneful and crepuscular 90s death metal and massive architectures of lysergic psychedelic virtuosity borrowed directly from the likes of Pink Floyd and King Crimson, Mortal Incarnation have assembled one of the most modern and visionary pure death-doom releases in years, in which the intimacy and meditative powers of the golden era of 70's psych/progressive rock and the primordial darkness and ferocity of the most suffocating death metal coexist in a marvel of superb aesthetic dominance and of crushing evocative force.

Mortal Incarnation materialized in Tokyo, Japan around 2018, by the will of four individuals (Septic Necrovoid on guitar and vocals, Goatlord on guitar, R$Y on bass, and Miasma Vortex on drums) obsessed with arcane and timeless forms of extreme metal and influenced by transcendental and mystical experiences that defy reality. This fascination with otherworldly states and realms of the unknown has pushed the band to create highly contemplative and mystical music that explores states of spiritual ubiquity, out of body experiences, absurd rituals and inexplainable phenomenons that live on the plain of irreality. While early experimentalists and progenitors of absurd and boundary-pushing extreme metal like Incantation and dISEMBOEWRLMENT are obvious influences for the band, Mortal Incarnation have also been particularly drawn to the experimentalism and self-destructive artistic lawlessness seen in early Scandinavian death and black metal bands who've widely explored this almost mindless pull toward near complete loss of self: Thou Shalt Suffer, early Darkthrone, Purtenance, Crematory, early Entombed etc. Their sound has then been ulteriorly shaped by contemporary and more immaterial influences like various forms of darkwave, shoegaze and ambient music which have greatly contributed to shaping the band's almost exaggerated obsession with creating enveloping and otherworldly atmospheres used as a backdrop to a maelstrom of pulverizing primitive death metal. The urgency and intensity with which Mortal Incarnation write, perform, and record their music comes from yet another plane of inspiration which sheds ulterior light on the band's incredibly diverse background and seemingly endless pool of inspirations: hardcore and punk music, mainly brought in the band by bassist R$Y who also militates in Japanese powerviolece band Soiled Hate. Conceptually, Mortal Incarnation focus on building a mirror-like reflection to their own sound, as a perfect thematic continuation and counterpart to the music, with philosophical, fantasy, and gothic literature or Japanese manga being the main source of lyrical inspiration, especially works dealing with the transcendental realms of existence, mystical experiences, surreality, and the mystery that permeates human nature, along with concepts of vastness, enormity and of incomprehensible and sensorial and psychological awe and wonder.

Lunar Radiant Dawn cassettes are scheduled to ship on January 10 2019 and are now pre-ordeable on our Bandcamp or RELEAES page above. A 10” vinyl version is in the works and its release is TBA.

PETRIFICATION: "Hollow of the Void" LP Reissued.

PETRIFICATION’s bludgeoning 2018 debut LP Hollow of the Void has been reissued on a limited new run of colored vinyl after having been sold out for nearly a year. The amazing death metal album is finally available again on clear water blue vinyl with a red and purple marble, housed in a high quality sleeve with electric green flood inside the pocket. You can now order the LP reissue from our RELEASES page or on our Bandcamp.

One the most unique and bombastic US/OSDM releases of 2018, Hollow of the Void is a breakneck rampage of gruesome death metal chaos that worships directly at the ancient altar of legends like Convulse, Bolt Thrower, Grave, and Autopsy. Despite its homage-like timelessness and classic feel, the album is a modern and defiant take on the genre that unifies an exquisite taste in its celebrative sonic assault with a visual surreal and masterful visual presentation unlike anything else commonly seen out there in the genre.

Hollow of the Void was released in April 2018 and established Petrification as one of the most threatening and exciting new new acts to appear that year in American death metal. The album received widespread and unanimous praise in the underground from fans and critics alike, being hailed as a 2018 landmark death metal release by outlets like Revolver and Decibel Magazine among others. Particular praise has been given to the album’s raw and visceral sound, to it’s modern and ambitious take on a style of death metal often labelled as “old school” and that has evolved little over the years, and to its astonishing and unique visual presentation, an aspect developed and created for the album directly by the band’s singer, famed underground surreal painter and visual artist Jason Barnett.

RUIN LUST: NYC-Based Black/Death Metal Horde Issue Incinerating Sophomore LP "Sacrifice" for the First Time Ever on Vinyl.

Ruin Lust play hellish grinding metal of death and war; a dagger to the throats of all insipid, trend-chasing, "old school" death metal of recent years. Violent, hateful, and unyielding, but with actual fucking riffs, Ruin Lust draws inspiration from the varied traditions of Sadistik Exekution, Sacramentary Abolishment, and classic, unhinged, American death metal and grind, without ever indulging in pure emulation. Contemporary chaos mongers Knelt Rote and Ascended Dead are also reasonable touchstones. The band formed in New York in 2010 at a moment when NOTHING of the level of violence, and sheer unbridled ferocity existed in the area. After years of reclusive labor, the release of Sacrifice, their second full length, reveals the most potent distillation of the band’s feral and deranged vision. LIFE EXTINGUISHED. DEATH TRIUMPHANT.

Sentient Ruin is proud to release Ruin Lust's incinerating sophomore LP Sacrifice for the first time ever on vinyl, after a self-released tape surfaced in early 2019 bringing back under the spotlight one of America's most elusive and feral extreme metal entities. Featuring current and past members of Anicon, Trenchgrinder, Vorde, Vilkacis, Fell Voices, Vanum, and Yellow Eyes, the NYC black/death/war metal horde return six years after their debut album was released on Psychic Violence Records, with their darkest and most baneful compositions to date, blending the most pestilent strains of black and death metal with the blunt force trauma of grindcore to elevate the notion of sonic warfare at unseen new extremes.

While remaining true to the genre's voluntarily involved and feral approach to aural barbarism, a careful ear will not fail to notice the modern and transformative approach taken by the band to assemble their sonic war zone, utilizing a dense and suffocating sense of atmosphere and an immanent sense of dynamics and unpredictability to mercilessly blindside and destroy the listener. By all means a pinnacle in this year's war metal output, Sacrifice is a modern and defiant spasm of extreme metal terror that will find loyal proselytes amongst fans of Diocletian, Knelt Rote, Heresiarch and other contemporary black/death bands who show to be more inclined to breaking new ground and paving the genre's future than living in the past.

The Sacrifice LP was officially released on December 13 through Sentient Ruin exclusively worldwide and is now shipping everywhere - find it at our Bandcamp, online shop or distributors for both North America and Europe/rest of world.

DECOHERENCE: Multinational Black Metal Entity Set To Release Massive Debut LP "Ekpyrosis" on November 22 - Tracks Premiered at Invisible Oranges and Decibel Magazine.

Sentient Ruin is honored and proud to work again with Decoherence, a band which has helped shape this label’s reach, roster, catalog, and vision to great extents, allowing us to pave our destiny beyond any milestone previously reached, and to be a part in the genesis of one of black metal’s most inspired and visionary new acts.

After unleashing their soul-consuming debut self-titled 7"EP via Sentient Ruin earlier in 2019, multinational industrial atmospheric black metal entity Decoherence finally return with their highly anticipated debut full-length album Ekpyrosis, unravelling tenfold the darkness and sonic enormity of their debut 7" and leaving the listener helpless to decay before a massive sonic singularity as they manipulate dark matter and eviscerate darkness to open a passageway to a realm beyond.

In a manner not dissimilar to the territory already tread by pillars of the genre like Blut Aus Nord and Darkspace, on Ekpyrosis Decoherence juxtapose cold martial industrial drum patterns with surreal and disorienting electronic noise soundscapes and walls of mangled, angular, and dissonant guitars to create a monstrous alien landscape and transport the listener to an otherworldly dimension, deep into the darkest and most remote and inhospitable corners of the cosmos, where dark forces of unfathomable destructiveness and cataclysms of unimaginable magnitude dominate an inhuman realm devoid of any light or warmth. An obsidian monolith of sidereal terror and hallucinating claustrophobia, Ekpyrosis is a sonic event horizon where concepts like coldness, emptiness, vastness, and nothingness obtain an entirely new meaning and are taken to an incomprehensible extreme to instate into the listener a feeling of widespread fear, complete loss of self, and of permanent and consuming dissolution.

Leading up to the album’s imminent release, Invisible Oranges has premiered one of the album’s tracks calling Ekpyrosis “unrelenting, extremely atmospheric, and layered extensively with electronic and analog soundscapes that meld seamlessly to form one solid slab of obsidian“

A second track was premiered shortly after by Decibel Magazine , who defined the bands’s music an “abyssal black metal onslaught”.

The monstrous pitch-black album was self-recorded and mixed by the band, mastered at mexican black metal dungeon Necrousound, and features artwork by LEV.FM from iconic Sentient Ruin label mates 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker).

Ekpyrosis releases officially on November 22 2019 on black and/or colored vinyl LP, cassette tape and digital through Sentient Ruin exclusively world-wide, and all formats are now pre-ordeable here on our site or on our Bandcamp page.

GOAT TERROR: Belarusian War Metal Terrorists Issue debut 7" - Track Unveiled by Blessed Altar Zine.

Sentient Ruin is proud to partake in the unholy birth of Goat Terror, Belarusian skull-clobbering and devil-worshipping Neanderthals with no consideration for any fucking living thing. On their debut 7” EP of bestial and barbaric sonic warfare the mysterious Belarusian war machine draws influence from the most unholy fringe of bestial satanic war/goat metal like Proclamation, Conqueror, Blasphemy, and Impiety, to summon the very embodiment of complete chaos and pestilence, wielding their sonic armageddon like an abominable weapon of mass destruction to unleash it unto the human race in the most gruesome and atrocious way possible.

In unveiling the first track from the release, underground blog Blessed Altar Zine, has stated that within Unholy March “There’s no trace of melody, no nod at harmony, no progressive elements and no mercy to be found here. Just pure, unadulterated evil and bloodlust”

Hailing from Minsk, Belarus, this duo of skull-crushing troglodytes remains anonymous and doesn’t perform live so that their recorded output may be their only voice and grand declaration of war toward the human race which they despise and whose defilement and insult remains their only guiding light. No biographies or personal information is made available as it is an unnecessary and contingent aspect of what they do, and completely irrelevant to their main design and intents. Musically Goat Terror pays homage the vanguard of eternal satanic war metal annihilation: Proclamation, Conqueror, Revenge, Weregoat, Baphomets Horns, Impiety and Bestial Raids etc, while also greatly building on those historic foundations to refine and extremize their aural mortal weapon even further, and to elevate the genre to new heights of madness and barbarism.

The unholy EP features artwork by Warhead Art (Diocletian etc), and officially drops on Friday November 15 on a limited white 7” vinyl from Sentient Ruin and on cassette tape from Unpure Records.

The limited edition vinyl 7" released by Sentient Ruin , will come in only 200 units all pressed to white vinyl and housed in a custom white cover + insert both silkscreened with a custom made dark metallic graphite ink, and including download card.

CLAVICVLA: Italian Black Ambient/Death Industrial Demon To Release Otherworldly Sophomore LP "Sepulchral Blessing" on November 1 - Tracks Premiered by Brutal Resonance and Blessed Altar Zine.

Black Ambient of the highest order. Italy’s Clavicvla channels the cosmic void, the source and finality of all things manifest. A true sonic force that reverberates through the core, allowing to escape one’s physical form and delve deep without, where logic and comprehensions are null...

Sentient Ruin and Cyclic Law are honored to delve once again into the otherworldy wretched dimension of Clavicvla, as we proudly prepare the release of Ittiel’s sophomore LP for a November 1 2019 release on tape, vinyl, digital and CD for North America and Europe.

Diabolical black ambient/death industrial demon Claviclva returns with his blood-chilling sophomore LP Sepulchral Blessing, unravelling another forty minutes of tyrannical nightmare fuel that will leave the listener catatonic and agonizing in horror. With Sepulchral Blessing this time Clavicvla constructs a sonic tomb of immense evocative force that inters the listener into a lucid nightmare and transports them straight into the kingdom of the dead, acting as an abominable sonic vessel to the underworld. Unbelievably repulsive, blood-chillingly horrific and unyieldingly evil, on this astonishing new work sole mastermind Ittiel has harnessed the quintessence of malignity and created a cinematic soundtrack to a ghastly decent into the underworld, where diabolical atmospheres drenched in the stench of death, nightmarish soundscapes, and monstrous drones and sub-bass frequencies are masterfully interwoven and manipulated to envelop, entrance, and entomb the listener into the nethermost pits of hell.

Leading up to the release two tracks have been unveiled, one at Brutal Resonance, and one at Blessed Altar Zine. Both outlets have remarked on the superb quality of Ittiel’s infernal art stating that his “cosmos oriented lectures on the twisted and turned beings of the outer worlds have a penchant for otherworldly and omnipotent beings, the project's occult following has only been growing" - and that the music “goes deep into the mind of the listener, infecting it with a primal fear down to its very core”.

Conceived by Italian black metal artist Ittiel, unholy dark ambient / death industrial abomination Clavicvla represents the artist's moral, spiritual, corporal, and human dissolution, and his transition from his initial artistic earthly form into immaterial and full-fledged abstract horror, to mirror the newly acquired reflection of himself - the transition itself triggered by Ittiel's morbid and sanity-defying fascination with satanism, acosmism, and the cult of death. Clavicvla as such was formed as a ritual vessel, to disintegrate and transition Ittiel's physical existence itself from the corporal world to pure dread and emptiness. Ittiel has stated that he puts together the sounds of Clavicvla to dismantle and annihilate his corporal self in an attempt to embrace, and become one with, the absolute void, and break the endless loop of life and death by instead derailing existence into senseless chaos and entropy. As such Clavicvla is for Ittiel liberation of consciousness, to assume his true and perceived form, bound by nothing and shaped solely by his own unbeing.

Sepulchral Blessing drops on November 1 2019 on digital, tape and EU vinyl through Sentient Ruin, and on CD, digital and EU vinyl from Cyclic Law.