Atlanta, GA psychedelic thrash metal quartet SADISTIC RITUAL are today premiering Maelstrom of Consciousness, the third single to be taken from their upcoming album, The Enigma, Boundless, via Distorted Sound alongside an accompanying visualizer.
WATCH THE VISUALIZER FOR MAELSTROM OF CONSCIOUSNESS VIA DISTORTED SOUND HERE.
Maelstrom of Consciousness will be available via all streaming services on Friday, April 22.
The Enigma, Boundless is due out via Prosthetic Records on May 20 – pre-order here.
Speaking on the premiere, SADISTIC RITUAL‘s Charlie Southern (vocals / guitar) comments: “Maelstrom of Consciousness is the chaos labyrinth that is our mind. Hallucinogenic thoughts that break the thresholds into the beyond. For a brief moment suspended in no time; you are no longer a servant to this world. We feel this is a stand out track that will help set our vision apart from others, and for that reason it is one of our favorite tracks from The Enigma, Boundless. Play it loud and plunge yourself into unreality.”
SADISTIC RITUAL delivers classic thrash licks in spades, set against a backdrop of chugging, headbang-worthy tunes. The accessibility of their songs – which will delight metalheads across subgenres – belies the thought and consideration that goes into each element of SADISTIC RITUAL. Their strong DIY ethic means everyone’s getting their hands dirty along the way, and allows each member to play to their strengths. In the case of guitarist, Alex Parra, that includes notching up production credits on the recording of The Enigma, Boundless, Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Tomb Mold, Venom Prison) was brought in to master the album.
With a disdain for authority, and themes of real world horrors – specifically spiritual and political fears being confronted – running through the album, there’s a dark and sometimes paranoid undercurrent to the lyrical content on The Enigma, Boundless, penned by Southern and drummer, Joe Sweat. Throw in an affection for LSD and the psychedelic part of ‘psychedelic thrash’ starts to become further apparent. The Enigma, Boundless was written, recorded, and ritualized under the dystopian schism that was 2020 – and arrives here in 2022 to annihilate the fallacies of a fabricated reality.
The distinctive album art was crafted through a collaborative process between artist Erica Frevel and Sweat, who shared themes, ideas and creative directions to guide her visual representations. Bassist LaMar George worked on the album layout, making the presentation of the overall album aesthetic a truly collaborative effort – and an accurate depiction of SADISTIC RITUAL in 2022.