Hear The "Murmur" Of Invisible Evil In Sadistic Ritual's Unhinged Thrash (Early Track Stream)
Thrash metal doesn’t usually sound as murky as Sadistic Ritual‘s delightfully swampy approach to the genre, but then again, it usually isn’t nearly as mind-altering. Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, the group pulls together members of other notable Atlanta-based acts (including Vimur, Paladin, and more) and puts their talents to work on a hallucinatory thrash assault that adds mystifying intensity to razor-sharp production. Often even straying into blackened thrash territory, their sophomore album The Enigma, Boundless uses locked-down thrash grooves as a hypnotic lure to pull listeners deeper into a violent, frantic brew. We’re premiering the visualizer for the single “Murmur” now, which features some deeply unsettling militaristic visuals that go right at home with the band’s brain-melting onslaught. Watch here:
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Founding vocalist/guitarist Charlie Southern’s caustic bellows ripple against the mix like they’re tearing free of the mire, drenched in multiple layers of delay. “Murmur” feels both grisly and annihilative, which goes right in hand with the visualizer’s combination of gross and bleak imagery. It’s not all doom and gloom, though, as the track shows off some of the album’s tastier riffs and excellent lead work to slightly dampen the misery on display.
After an initial decade on the road without a proper full-length, The Enigma, Boundless marks the band’s second album in just three years, and the rapid pace comes without any loss of focus—their battle-scarred, surreal thrash metal remains more warlike (and weirder) than much of their peers.
Drummer Joe Sweat comments:
“Murmur” is dedicated to a psychedelic experience from my youth. During this trip (which was the combination of LSD and mushroom tea), I lost the ability to differentiate reality from “fantasy”. What felt like an old memory had turned into a dark journey inwards. Somewhere between waking life and sleep I was given visions of nuclear war, death squads, and this nameless/formless malice. Whatever it was felt as if it were showing me the dominance it had over this world. Taunting my soul and seeking me out. Its surveillance was limitless.
It’s dominion fed by the dark ritual of war and humanity as the fodder, the sacrificial lamb so to speak. The song is testament to the grim nature of our reality and occult forces that hold power.
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The Enigma, Boundless releases May 20th via Prosthetic Records.
