{"title":"Sabbath Assembly","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSabbath Assembly was an occult rock band that formed in 2010. Based in both Texas and New York City, the band gained a following with their unique blend of heavy music and esoteric themes. Drawing inspiration from various sources, Sabbath Assembly created a sound that was dark, atmospheric, and captivating.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough now defunct, Sabbath Assembly left a lasting impact on the occult rock genre. Their music explored mystical concepts and rituals, creating an immersive experience for listeners. With influences ranging from psychedelic rock to doom metal, Sabbath Assembly carved out their own niche within the music industry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor fans of similar artists such as Year Of The Goat, Blood Ceremony, and Luciferian Light Orchestra among others, Sabbath Assembly's discography offers a rich collection of haunting melodies and thought-provoking lyrics. While they may no longer be active as a band, their legacy lives on through their recordings and continues to inspire those who appreciate the intersection of music and mysticism.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"quaternity","title":"Quaternity","description":"\u003cp\u003eSabbath Assembly returns with their third album, Quaternity.What is missing from the Christian concept of \"trinity\"?  Carl Jung suggests that the fourth element is what many reject - the evil in our nature; or by another view, the feminine, which throughout Church history has been equated with evil and duly suppressed.    To restore this element to the trinity creates Quaternity, which in William Blake's Proverbs of Hell represents \"the fourfold nature of man and his relationship to the divine.\"Side A of Quaternity the album begins with a look at the four deities worshipped in the theology of the Process Church of the Final Judgment - Christ, Jehovah, Lucifer, and Satan -each tune providing the deity with its own voice, unmediated by Christian prejudice.    Lucifer is again the light bearer, Satan the source of primal strength, Jehovah the vengeful destroyer, and Christ the master of death.Side B explores another four:  the horsemen of the apocalypse of Revelations.  This intricate, sidelong piece was conceived in anticipation of 12\/21\/12.  For those who got the 7\" last year, this is the full 20-minute version.Quaternity is primarily acoustic in format, with an array of classical percussion and strings creating an entirely new sound for the band.  Unlike its predecessors Restored to One and Ye Are Gods, Quaternity offers a majority of original material with inspiration from the Process found primarily in the lyrics.  One exception is the completely unpublished \"Lucifer,\" shared with the band over the telephone via former Processian Anthony D'Andrea, who had contacted the band complaining that they were not \"getting the hymns right.\"    Thanks to Mr. D'Andrea, whose rendition can be heard in part at the top of the track.Quaternity once again features Jamie Myers on vocals and Dave \"Xtian\" Nuss on percussion.  Special guests on the album include Daron Beck of Pinkish Black accompanying Jamie on vocals, Kevin Hufnagel of Gorguts on guitar, Mat McNerney and Marja Konttinen of Hexvessel reciting sacred texts, liturgica\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Svart Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50485009416523,"sku":"2018089","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_c9f595af_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727593938"},{"product_id":"sabbath-assembly","title":"Sabbath Assembly","description":"\u003cp\u003eSabbath Assembly's highly anticipated fifth album, Sabbath Assembly, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Svart Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50485176664395,"sku":"2018379","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_65c7cf09_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727596718"},{"product_id":"rites-of-passage","title":"Rites Of Passage","description":"\u003cp\u003eLed by vocalist Jamie Myers (ex-Hammers of Misfortune), Sabbath Assembly anno 2017 features guitarist Kevin Hufnagel (Gorguts, Dysrhythmia), who has been with the band since 2011; original Sabbath Assembly drummer Dave Nuss; bassist Johnny Deblase, who also played on the band's self-titled album; and the new addition of second guitarist Ron Varod (Kayo Dot, Psalm Zero, Zvi).   Rites of Passage marks a moment in which Sabbath Assembly truly \"comes of age\" as a unique combination of its members, creating progressive metal influenced by Gorguts and Hammers of Misfortune while maintaining a melodic edge true to the roots of the band in the hymnody of the Process Church of the Final Judgment.Thematically, Rites of Passage is a reflection on the complexity of the transitional stages of life. Ethnographer Arnold van Gennep first defined \"rites of passage\" in 1960 as birth, childhood, puberty, marriage, parenthood, religious initiation, and funerals. In our current age, when many eschew these specific rites, Sabbath Assembly's newest songs define transitional moments based on experiences in their own lives that have left them feeling truly changed. The songs on Rites of Passage include stories of losing one's religion (rather than initiation), dissolution of a relationship (rather than marriage), and managing the dementia and physical decline of a loved one (as more profound than a funeral rite).In a time when others in the occult rock genre remain preoccupied with fantasy and dark mysticism, Sabbath Assembly finds the most profound of transformative moments in everyday experience. Rites of Passage presents its listeners with a set of songs that the band hopes will mirror their own experiences of transition, and in some way provide necessary passage.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Svart Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50485177811275,"sku":"2018081","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_b7caa2ee_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727596737"},{"product_id":"a-letter-of-red-2","title":"A Letter Of Red","description":"\u003cp\u003eA Letter of Red is the seventh album from Sabbath Assembly. The album, produced by Randall Dunn who last worked with the band on their debut Restored to One, marks a return to the shortened song form and tight production of their debut, while demonstrating ten years of songwriting prowess and lyrical advancement. The music on A Letter of Red owes more to the galloping hard rock of the 70's than the progressive meanderings of Rites of Passage.   Dunn explains: \"I tried to find the teenage occult heart of each of the musicians and center them in a place of unity around a familiar and yet futuristic sound. I imagined us all in the cosmos with 70's hi fi headphones on riding a great winged beast airbrushed on the side of a chevy van.\" Guitarists Kevin Hufnagel (Gorguts, Dysrhythmia) and Ron Varod (Kayo Dot, Myrkur) reference Heart and Judas Priest on the album's hard rockers, while acoustic moments bring to mind Current 93 and Jethro Tull. Vocalist Jamie Myers (ex-Hammers of Misfortune and Wolves in the Throne Room) performs with the stripped down clarity of Peter Murphy and Siouxsie in the 80's, bringing a true Gothic tinge to the metal riffs for a totally unique combination.A Letter of Red takes on lofty lyrical themes juxtaposed with this more specific musical direction. The track \"Hymn of the Pearl\" elucidates the album's title in its recounting of a lost traveler who finds his way home upon receipt of \"the letter of red\" sent by his familial tribe.   The letter reminds the traveler of his true self, and is metaphorical for the gnostic path of individuation. The song is based on a 2nd century Syrian text of the same name discovered with other New Testament apocryphal writings forbidden from the Biblical canon. The Apostle Thomas is thought to have sung this hymn to his fellow prisoners while in Roman captivity, with \"the letter of red\" offering true release.The album continues with these themes of imprisonment and freedom in the songs \"Solve et Coagula,\" which contemplates the plight of imprisoned Yazidi women af\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Svart Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50888120697163,"sku":"2017447","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50888120959307,"sku":"2017456","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_b08ac0e4_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1732538044"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_62dc1ade_thumbnail_4096_badaedf7-2c25-4bb7-8b73-bb537a404f1d.jpg?v=1727593921","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/sabbath-assembly.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}