Prosthetic Records are excited to announce the signing of Atlanta, Georgia’s SADISTIC RITUAL. Accompanying the signing announcement, the psychedelic thrash group have unveiled plans to release their sophomore album, The Enigma, Boundless, on May 20. The lead single and music video, End of All Roads, from SADISTIC RITUAL’s forthcoming full-length is premiering now via Decibel Magazine.
End of All Roads will be available via all streaming services on Friday, February 18.
Pre-order The Enigma, Boundless here.
Speaking on their signing to Prosthetic Records and The Enigma, Boundless’ announcement, the band comment: “We were looking for a label to push this release to a wider audience, EJ and everyone at Prosthetic were
very enthusiastic towards The Enigma, Boundless. We believe Prosthetic shares the vision that has feverishly presented itself in the form of this album.”
Of End of All Roads, SADISTIC RITUAL add: “End of All Roads is a mirror held to a society that has spiralled into a chaotic and unsustainable force. Authoritarianism, urban decay, and surveillance right outside your door. Under a watchful eye, our collective minds are battered into our new found mass psychosis.”
SADISTIC RITUAL’s debut album, Visionaire of Death, was previously described by Decibel as ‘a fearsome thrash ripper’, whilst other publications levelled comparisons to the likes of Kreator, Watain, and Sodom. The 2019 album was released after honing their craft – on the road and in the studio – and refining the vision that Charlie Southern (guitar and vocals) first brought to life back a decade prior.
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.