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Decibel Magazine is currently streaming There Is No Truth But Death, the debut full-length from Houston, Texas-based atmospheric post-black metal alchemists SLEEPING ANCIENT, in its entirety. The premiere comes in advance of the record’s official unveiling tomorrow, September 6th .
Writes Decibel of the offering, “SLEEPING ANCIENT aren’t here to mince words. On their debut album, the quartet profess that There Is No Truth But Death in an atmospheric, post-rock influenced black metal statement. A sense of dread exists within the songs, each song painting a dreary, emotional landscape.”
Adds the band, “There Is No Truth But Death is a crucible of contradiction. It’s living in a world of lies and distraction while still perceiving it for what it is. It is forlorn ugliness and it is sublime majesty. It’s consuming darkness pierced by shards of light. It’s the end and it is the beginning of life; the ouroboros eating its tail. It is confusion and harsh chaos, and it is also the quiet respite from it. The wild pendulum swing of urban decay that never ends, yet slowly distilling new visions and yearning for true sight beyond eyes.”
Stream SLEEPING ANCIENT’s There Is No Truth But Death, courtesy of Decibel Magazine, at THIS LOCATION.
There Is No Truth But Death will be self-released on CD and digitally September 6th. For preorders, visit the SLEEPING ANCIENT Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION. A limited-edition vinyl edition of the record will be available via Belgium’s Viridian Flame Records. For preorders, go to THIS LOCATION.
Forged in 2010 on the back of a Craigslist ad, the band began as an instrumental post-rock act naming itself in honor of the cosmic, psychic, and apocalyptic horrors referenced in the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Weathering lineup changes and prolonged breaks over the course of several years, the SLEEPING ANCIENT collective managed to refine their wholly unique output into a striking sound driven by a sense of bleak desolation. In 2016, the band released their debut EP, The Last Seer.
Emerging from a scene more consumed by stoner rock and death metal, SLEEPING ANCIENT manifests a sonic aura that’s at once epic and organic; monolithic and mesmerizing. Centering on themes of endless, existential dread and depressive, melancholic grave worship, the band’s impending debut, There Is No Truth But Death, was captured at Southwing Audio, engineered and mixed by Craig Douglas and Chris Kritikos, and mastered by Brad Boatright (Sunn O))) Mournful Congregation, Noisem, Portrayal of Guilt) at Audiosiege. The end result is seven dark, consuming hymns built on the ebb and flow of its cascading guitars, simmering drums, and tormented vocal inflections; monochromatic nihilism boiling beneath a gorgeous post metal soundscape.
“…by god did they get them right on There Is No Truth But Death, which sits somewhere between the hypnotic intensity of MgÅ‚aand the panoptic density of Isis…. racks like ‘A Path Emerges’ and ‘Akeru’ meld seething anger and simmering atmosphere in equal measure, showering the listener in a coruscating cascade of scything tremolo, glimmering arpeggios, and doom-laden chords, all underpinned by some truly frenetic drum work and topped off with Rory Alhquist’s heart-wrenching, throat-rending, howls.” — No Clean Singing
“…an incredibly impressive and powerful debut…” — Astral Noize UK
“Touching on themes of bleak desolation and existential dread regarding the human condition, the album represents a somber journey through nihilism and infatuation with death, allowing black metal structures and aesthetics to unfold in a lush post metal landscape.” — Invisible Oranges
“The band seems to musically unwrap chaos to get to an almost ecstatic thrill running both directions – ‘up’ in the sense of a kind of growing, frenzied power, and ‘down’ in the sense of the atmospheric and slower portions, which feel like slowly but surely driving a rusty stake through the heart.” — Captured Howls
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http://viridianflame.bandcamp.com