CD

“APHELIC ASCENT” is our second full-length, centred on satanic concepts linked to Chaos-Gnosticism; the end of times (Pralaya) in western and eastern tradistions; the thought of Nietzsche, Frank Giano Ripel and Austin Osman Spare.

Eight Hymns that ritualizie the connection with the most destructive and instinctual energies for the deification of Self, to ascend to states of consciousness beyond all law.

Violent, dark and triumphant, “Aphelic Ascent” is a manifesto of what
the band has developed over these years: an extremist and dissonant
Black Metal, integrated with wide dilated and sulphurous passages
that reveal industrial-ambient suggestions.

Having dropped their third album Choir Of Babel in early 2020 just before the world shut down, the forces of pandemic did not succeed in silencing NYC’s Ruin Lust for good. Though confined to their fallout bunker, the band, with martial fervor, began work on what has now, three years later, emerged as their fourth album Dissimulant.

In the final phase of imperialist rot, Ruin Lust declares war against the festering delusions of a devolving species. The most withering aspects of modern death metal, grinding war metal and black metal’s more bestial tendencies compel this audial exorcism, poisoning the well like a bioweapon spread through open air, suffocating and contemptuous. By the time album closer “Chemical Wind” is done, all that remains are parched bones and desiccated shadows.

Barbarically pestilent yet compositionally deliberate, Dissimulant casts a bitter pall and leaves an open wound on the death metal scene for 2023. A militant milestone in the Ruin Lust discography.

Grim black metal

Since their formation in 2007, MINENWERFER have pursued a proud 'n' pure vision of black metal idiosyncratically focused on World War I - idiosyncratic, in the sense that the band hail from America but mostly sing in German. What has resulted is a startlingly accomplished canon that has quietly built itself into prolific proportions, with their first album arriving in 2010, followed by albums in 2012 and 2019, and a slew of split releases and EPs in the interim.

Of those many short-length releases, Kriegserklärung can conveniently be seen as a companion to an album release – in this case, 2012's thick-yet-throttling Nihilistischen. And yet, where that album saw MINENWERFER inching closer to a palatable professionalism, the 24-minute Kriegserklärung fully bursts through those doors with a startling clarity, setting the stage for the band's grand 2019 full-length, Alpenpäesse.

High Roller Records, booklet, slipcase, poster, mastered by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY

Whilst admiration of the US American masters is unquestionable, Ageless Summoning display a jaw-dropping level of originality in their approach to the sub-genre. “Our goal has never been to just imitate what has come before, but we’re not trying to hide our influences either. We include plenty of deliberate references, but we’re also trying to develop our sound and continue the exploration of vast and desolate otherworlds.”

Featuring members of such long-running U.K. acts as Of Spire & Throne, Haar, Úir, Scordatura, and Abyssal, the band has several combined decades of desecration under their belts. Wrapped in one of the most stunning and sinister Paolo Girardi artworks in recent memory, Corrupting The Entempled Plane is not to be missed.