“Apparition of the Revolution” is the second video to be made for a track from Sabbath Assembly‘s self-titled fifth album, newly released on Svart Records and positioned as the band’s casting off of their churchly cultish ways. The prior one, “Ave Satanas,” was essentially a horror movie, centered as many are around the destruction of the family unit, in this case by bloody knife-wielding murder. Fair enough. “Apparition of the Revolution” is significantly less narrative, given as is the track itself more to an atmospheric impression of its otherworldly ambience and dark, no less sadistic intent. If I compared it to a less experimental version of latter-day Jarboe, I’d hope not to take a punch from so much disagreement.

The track itself nears six minutes, but much of that is geared toward setting the stage and building tension to a resoundingly heavy payoff, sultry images and malevolent croon meeting with an underlying violence nowhere near as direct as “Ave Satanas,” but still certainly present. When its full breadth kicks in, a dirge-style march gets underway, guitars churning behind in a manner that contrasts some of the Mercyful Fatery they showed last time around but stands in line with classic metal one way or another.

Feel free to dig in below, and be rewarded for patience and openness of mind:

Sabbath Assembly, “Apparition of the Revolution” official video

The track hails from the band’s highly anticipated fifth album, Sabbath Assembly, released on September 11th via Svart Records. It marks a new beginning for the band: its “Great Schism” from the Process Church of the Final Judgment. Like the albatross falling from the mariner’s neck, the band has freed itself from the cult’s theology in order to explore its own creations – with no special guest appearances or narrative frills. Sabbath Assembly is, in fact, a decidedly metal offering, for in the writing, the band returned to its own personal roots in the dark age of the ’80s. These are Sabbath Assembly’s own “hymns” for their own “church” – a place marked by passion, devotion, and the gospel of metal.

Regarding the video for “Apparition of the Revolution,” the band states: “The promise of cults is superficial. Personal grandeur, spiritual elevation, heavenly reward – it all turns out smoke and mirrors in the end. The promised ‘revolution’ never comes; yet when in the throes of the cult, the apparition of it looms large, ghostly, immanent. This song and video is about the recognition of the ghost, seeing the apparition in all its mist. It’s about the crumbling and burning of the symbols of the cult, and the powdery dust which they become. Goodbye, Process Church of the Final Judgment. As it is, so be it.”

Sabbath Assembly website

Sabbath Assembly on Bandcamp

Sabbath Assembly on Twitter

Svart Records

If the prospect of Sabbath Assembly casting off the cultish tropes of their genre even in part piques your interest, the band have made it easy to get introduced to the crux of their fifth album, which is self-titled perhaps as much to showcase a defiant spirit as to declare who they are as an act less based on Satan-loving dogma. Not that the two are mutually exclusive necessarily, but you know what I mean. Their new video, “Ave Satanas,” still has plenty of cultistry to it, even if that comes encased in Mercyful Fate-style riffing. Has it been long enough for proto-black metal to become a style? Yeah, probably.

Art, info, tour dates and bloodshed-prone video, courtesy of the PR wire:

SABBATH ASSEMBLY set release date for fifth album, premiere first video and album trailer

Today, Svart Records announces September 11th as the international release date for Sabbath Assembly’s highly anticipated fifth album, Sabbath Assembly. It marks a new beginning for the band: its “Great Schism” from the Process Church of the Final Judgment. Like the albatross falling from the mariner’s neck, the band has freed itself from the cult’s theology in order to explore its own creations – with no special guest appearances or narrative frills. Sabbath Assembly is, in fact, a decidedly metal offering, for in the writing, the band returned to its own personal roots in the dark age of the ’80s. These are Sabbath Assembly’s own “hymns” for their own “church” – a place marked by passion, devotion, and the gospel of metal.

The primary thematic difference between Sabbath Assembly and its predecessors is that this album is about embodiment, addressing all the power and grit required to endure our human existence, rather than exploring spiritual philosophy alone. While the songs reference occult literature, such as Robert Chambers’ The King in Yellow, Valeri Briussov’s The Fiery Angel of Desire, and The Gospel of Thomas, these texts were chosen not because of their abstraction from the mundane, but rather their propensity to embrace it as a means to spiritual understanding. If something is to be taken away from the new Sabbath Assembly album, it is this: the mysteries of occult philosophy are revealed not through celestial charts and diagrams, but rather the subtleties of earthly love and loss. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:

Tracklisting for Sabbath Assembly’s Sabbath Assembly
1. Risen From Below
2. Confessing a Murder
3. Burn Me (I Thirst for Fire)
4. Only You
5. The Fiery Angel of Desire
6. Ave Satanas
7. Sharp Edge of the Earth
8. Apparition of the Revolution
9. Shadows of Emptiness

Sabbath Assembly features Jamie Myers on vocals, David Christian on drums, Kevin Hufnagel on guitar, and the new addition of Johnny DeBlase on bass. The album was recorded by Colin Marston at Menegroth: The Thousand Caves Studio in Queens, NY. Comments drummer David Christian: “When we started the writing for this record, I was reading through hundreds of pages of Process texts, hunting for inspiration. All the writing seemed so stiff and jilted. Then I came across a letter that founder DeGrimston had written after having been excommunicated from the Church addressing the remaining congregation. It was so tragic, so moving – so much more heartfelt than his theological treatises. There was no talk of judgment or revenge in the letter, only bewilderment and heartache – but also forgiveness. My heart cracked open; I called Jamie and the band to discuss this new inspiration, and out came all these songs of heartbreak – our own songs, connecting us to all those who have ever experienced the pain of loss and the suffering of grief.” See/hear a vision of that heartbreak with the first video from Sabbath Assembly, “Ave Satanas,” which can be viewed exclusively HERE. A video trailer for the new Sabbath Assembly album can be viewed HERE.

In other Sabbath Assembly news, the band have confirmed all dates & venues for their upcoming “From Darkness to Darkness” tour with Relapse recording artists Christian Mistress. The full list of dates are as follows:

JULY 10 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ ELBO ROOM
JULY 11 – SACRAMENTO, CA @ STARLIGHT LOUNGE
JULY 12 – GARBERVILLE, CA @ THE GARBERVILLE THEATER
JULY 13 – SALEM, OR @ THE WISP HOUSE
JULY 14 – EUGENE, OR @ OLD NICK’S PUB
JULY 15 – SEATTLE, WA @ THE HIGHLINE
JULY 16 – BELLINGHAM, WA @ THE SHAKEDOWN
JULY 17 – OYLMPIA, WA @ OBSIDIAN
JULY 18 – PORTLAND, OR @ TONIC

www.sabbathassembly.com
www.facebook.com/sabbathassembly
www.sabathassembly.bandcamp.com
www.svartrecords.com
www.facebook.com/svartrecords
www.youtube.com/svartrecords
www.twitter.com/svartrecords

Sabbath Assembly, “Ave Satanas” official video