Ash Prison is a true meeting of the most malevolent minds in the world of decimating underground extreme music and their debut album, "Future Torn," is a surrealistic sounding nightmare that invites listeners to partake in one punishing darkened industrial sounding exhibition. Featuring Matt Auxier from industrial occult themed act 6th Circle, J. Thompson from the darkwave group Child Ov Night and M. Alagna of Abstracter/Somnolent/ex-Atrament, their collaboration on this release is definitely something to take notice of if you are fan of agonizing extreme music.
Sentient Ruin will be responsible for releasing this sadistic electronic creation, so right away you know that the music is going to be profoundly sinister and down right unapologetic to the rotten core. Ash Prison’s sound and style is exactly what you want to hear if you are a fan of Ministry (The Land of Rape and Honey period especially), Godflesh and Skinny Puppy, as well as ambient industrial black metal artists that have come along as of recent to offer these really raw and mind altering pieces of hateful sounding music. This album speaks to those who see the world as a bleak and hopeless mess, slowly being driven to the edge of collapse. M. Alagna’s vocals tell this frightening tale of futuristic annihilation as the heart pounding industrial rhythms and gritty distortion perfectly forms these ruinous soundscapes.
Once I first started listening to this album, I could definitely hear a mixture of each musician’s vicious artistic backgrounds as well as their extreme sounding musical influences. The opening track, “Archangel,” commences with these thunderous bursts of guitar distortion that signal forth the hellish deafening destruction. As much as the arrangements hit and grab your attention, I can’t stress the importance of the vocals and how on songs such as, “Death Reborn,” “Eraser” and “No Return,” the lyrics inject a sense of vividly haunting realism that speaks directly to you. “No Return,” is especially one track which I really enjoyed as the hypnotic sounds as well as the abrasive straightforward guitar riffs definitely convey a harsh old school 90’s industrial metal sound.
As I listened to this album multiple times, I truly felt as though that the execution on each track in terms of the production and recording quality played an important role in making this release really standout. A lot of artists that experiment with extreme industrial music tend to get carried away and end up putting out atrocious sound piles of horseshit, which is why I am very selective with this style of extreme music. Ash Prison’s confident and uncompromising aggression simply demands your attention. As the album progresses, you can really hear their sadistic experimental passion on tracks like, “Scorn,” “Collapse” and “Black Horizon.” Actually, the suffocating atmosphere on “Black Horizon” perfectly captures the nihilistic nature of raw black metal, which is why it was probably one of my favorite tracks off of the album.
To quote Pinhead from the movie Hellraiser, “Demons to some, angels to others.” Ash Prison is an act that I can see winning over those who fiendishly desire chaotic extreme industrial music which digs deep into the endless blackened distorted depths, while at the same time striking fear into the minds of those who might find themselves lost in the abrasive sounding voids. “Future Torn” is an album that perfectly encapsulates the abhorrently creative artistic talents that Sentient Ruin continues to promote, thus making this yet another album highly worth seeking out once it is released September 22, 2023.
Check out the song "Death Reborn" below:
Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:
