“Avant-garde raw black metal shrowded in a haze of distortion and veil of malignant mystery accompanied by some unsettling ambient work

Italy’s Sacrilegious Crown has been around for years and has released music on some of the genre’s most prolific and venerated labels (Perverse Homage, Defiled Light, Black Gangrene, and more). If you have missed this artist completely by some odd rift in the timeline, it is time to rectify that. Helmed by κενός, Sacrilegious Crown is one of the more punishing and psychologically demanding of the artists that are associated with the aforementioned labels. Buried in aural filth as if created in an empty echo-filled room, his work is plodding, driven, and unsettling; essentially, it’s the aural equivalent of driving yourself mad through introspection and self-imposed isolation. This release is their first since 2022’s ep “Forbidden Vestiges of Veneration” (Xenoglossy Productions), and the potency of their music is still as intense as ever. At 34 minutes, most of this release is cacophonous yet subtle raw black metal. However, the tail of the beast is disquieting ambient noise that will leave you with a shiver down the spine to remember it. Top-tier.“

- EPH

Edition of 50