8 Hour Animal "Resigner"

   At first you almost don’t know how to react when listening to 8 Hour Animal’s debut full-length album, “Resigner,” because you find yourself trying to pick up the pieces of your shattered sanity after listening to this album. The blitzkrieg of harsh industrial elements and chaotic electronic noises creates a massive sounding mind altering atmosphere. 

   Once again, Sentient Ruin finds a one-man act who does not follow the stereotypical path and explores the most deviant sounds a human could possible conjure up. Imagine Ministry and all those Wax Trax Records band, but with a more inhuman approach that aspires to bring about a musical annihilation of unforgiving digital proportions. Some of the compositions on this album are truly phenomenal and captivating, while some are down right frightening in terms of the amount of overwhelming electronic sounds that pierce your ears without remorse. 

   The first song on the album, “Almost Free,” is a nightmare inducing piece of music and the audio clip in the beginning of the track adds to the song’s misanthropic theme. True electronic sounding disgust brings about a rush of hateful energy that dissolves into a sea of complete chaos. The second track, “Oblivs,” reminded me a bit of early acid house, but with a more darker and sadistic energy coming from the heart pounding rhythms. Actually, I thought the track was very catchy, so much that felt like I was in a complete trance as the music intensely flowed out of my speakers. 

   Track number three, “Clever People,” is another hard hitting industrial experimentation which I thought brought together a monumental amount of frantic sound effects. The muffled vocals were hard to make out, although I believe they were more intended to inject an extra boost of savagery into the overall mix. “Pushing Myself Down,” is the longest song off of the album with a total run time of around 13 minutes. Give this artist 13 minutes and you are sure to hear a plethora of unfathomable electronic compositions. The track definitely reminded me of some classic 80’s horror film score, but I would go as far to say that if this were used in a movie I would not be surprised if the concept of the film would be something truly sinister. 

   The last two tracks on the album are also worth checking out, “Wake” and “Once You Accept Everything,” however I was really impressed more with the beginning of this release. The level of unorthodox creativity that I heard on this album stood out from start to finish, which is why I would say that 8 Hour Animal is perfect for Sentient Ruin. Again, here we have a release that does not sound like most of what is being pumped out these days and actually explores so much more than just the typical industrial sounding release. Highly worth checking out if you are in the mood for something that will melt your mind and turn you brains into a puddle of liquid! 

Check out the entire release below:

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/resigner

Vessel of Iniquity "The Doorway"

 

   By now if you are a regular reader of this blog, you should all know that when I am going to be reviewing a band that is working with Sentient Ruin, I am probably going to be extremely descriptive and very complimentary in terms of the band’s unforgiving artistic expression. This time I have to be quite honest and admit that Sentient Ruin has found a band that is utterly insane and offers up one twisted sounding release. Vessel of Iniquity’s new full-length album, “The Doorway,” is an unholy doorway into one volatile sounding musical landscape full of unorthodox sounding arrangements. 

   This one-man project takes extreme dynamic creativity and literally throws a hornets nest of sounds and styles together to achieve a harsh hellish sound. At times I am drawn to the entropy and brutal confidence, then there are times where I am left scratching my head wondering where everything went wrong. From black metal to industrial noise elements to even some cinematic sounds to create a horror movie like atmosphere, this album is the equivalent of a Fellini film on demonic acid. 

   Out of the nine tracks, I can tell you that there is always something that grabs your attention and then there will be moments where you are completely consumed by some chaotic sounding composition. “A Glimpse of the Pattern,” kicks off the album with an ominous sounding riff that is slow at first, but eventually sets up one devastating blast beat assault. Throughout the album listeners will notice the music constantly shifting from slow tempos to extremely intense tempos, which creates a climate of unpredictably and constant chaos. The second track, “By Allusion Called,” has a more terrifying doom structure that makes you feel like everything is falling apart as you are hit unmercifully by a bludgeoning of violent sounds. 

   The production quality on this album is solid for the most part and on songs like, “The Doorway,” the ferocious compositions are well recorded to bring about a sense of primitive sounding brutality. At times you feel like some of the tracks are used more to inject a sense of surreal horror in the album’s overall theme like on, “Death State Boundary.” During that track I had no idea what was going on, because the muffled voice completely took me by surprise. Eventually you start to become dizzy from all the agonizing riffs and ear shattering blast beats, plus the ghastly vocals are almost inhumane sounding. Until the very end, I felt like the vocal parts on this album complimented the overall abysmal atmosphere. 

   Vessel of Iniquity definitely shares in the Sentient Ruin mentality, which is to create music that has no boundaries and looks to strike audial fear amongst the extreme metal community. “The Doorway,” is one release that I find has a lot to dissect, but in the end even if there are moments you might find to be a bit overwhelming, the overall execution is fairly solid and delivers plenty of unforgiving arrangements. If you like black metal mixed with some grindcore and industrial sounds, then you will definitely want to give this a listen. Sometimes these unconventional sounding albums are most welcomed, because let’s be completely honest, one can only listen to so many shitty Norwegian black metal copycats before one goes totally mental from hearing the same album over and over again. 

Check out the entire album below:

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/the-doorway

Disimperium "Malefic Obliteration"

   This release may only feature three tracks, however I recommend that you do not underestimate Disimperium’s sadistic sounding extreme metal vision. The band’s debut EP, “Malefic Obliteration,” is a blackened death onslaught, throwing listeners into a savage realm of fearsome desolation. 

   Featuring members from Misrule and Ascended Dead, this Portland, OR based band really turns up the intensity on their debut EP. Disimperium is not trying to do anything completely different from what one might expect from a merciless blackened death metal band that also mixes in some old school grindcore elements, although the band seems to know how to produce a vivid and hellish sounding release that contains some agonizing compositions.

   Yes, this style of music has been hammered out numerous times before, but what separates this band from the others is the solid production and brutal execution on each track. The open riff on the first track, “Malefic Obliteration,” is a sinister sounding assault that comes charging at you like a chainsaw wielding lunatic. The vocals were what really stood out the most and the singer unleashes some horrendous growls as the music violently transitions. So much chaos, so much insanity and so much utter insidious creativity that it literally makes your head spin. 

   The next song, “Fuming Nexus,” is very similar to the opening track, and once again throws you into this cataclysmic atmosphere full of brutal instrumental arrangements. I cannot believe the drumming on this release at times and how the force of the rhythms come rumbling out of the speakers like a Sherman Tank. Turn this release on at full volume and you are sure to become deaf after a couple listens! The album’s final track, “Infernal Machine,” was another wicked offering and the ending perfectly summed up the band’s destructive vision. Eventually the band stops playing and all you hear is feedback and inhuman noises as if everything has been completely decimated by some apocalyptic event. 

   Disimperium is a band that you should not be surprised is working with Sentient Ruin on the release of this EP. Once again, here is a group that gets how to produce a vicious sounding album and demonstrates a certain caliber of musicianship I feel is lacking at times amongst some up and coming bands. “Malefic Obliteration,” by Disimperium is highly recommend for blackened death metal grindcore fanatics who wish to hear something that is brutal from start to finish, and of course is being released through one of the premier labels within the extreme metal community. 

Check out the entire EP below: 

Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/malefic-obliteration