I’ve long felt that Sadistic Ritual is one of those bands who should be far more recognized in the underground than they are. Their hard hitting brand of raw thrash that draws influences from Slayer, Kreator, and Demolition Hammer made outings like Edge of the Knife (2015) and Visionaire of Death (2019) highlights of the respective years they were released. Although the individual members of Sadistic Ritual have made greater waves in bands as diverse as Ectovoid, Vimur, and Paladin, I always held out hope they would strike back with yet another obliterating offering of thrash. I was just unaware of the manner in which it would be unleashed…very, very unaware.
The Enigma, Boundless is Sadistic Ritual’s second full length album. Upon the ominous title and trippy cover art that features all seeing eyes (figuratively and literally), explosions, and assorted organs, one wouldn’t take this for a metal album, let alone a thrash release. In the traditional sense of the term, The Enigma, Boundless isn’t a thrash release, at least not compared to the three legendary bands I mentioned in the first paragraph. It’s something much more sinister, unpredictable, and downright horrifying for all the right reasons.
The biggest difference between The Enigma, Boundless and past Sadistic Ritual releases is that it’s extremely dark. Mind you, these guys were never the drinkin’, partyin’, thrashin’ type that dominated the 2010s, and Visionaire of Death even flirted with old school death metal. But The Enigma, Boundless fully embraces the unholy aesthetic of Bathory circa Under the Sign of the Black Mark. Cuts like “End of All Roads”, “And You…”, and “Raving Voyeurism” boast harsh vocals, blinding blast beats, frantic riffing, and raw atmosphere characteristic of blackened thrash. Yet whereas most bands in this vein are merely ripping off Venom, Sadistic Ritual manages to convey a legitimate feeling of unease throughout.
This unease only intensifies on tracks such as “Murmur” and “Malestrom of Consciousness”. These mesmerizing slabs of blackened psych thrash come off as the musical equivalent of a hardcore acid trip gone awry, or the bastard spawn of militant black metal and Voivod had they kept the tropes of their first two albums later into their career. Throw in the trance inducing instrumental that is “The Blood of Memory” and you’ve got an album that needs to be heard to be believed. If any of these descriptions scare the living daylight out of you, fear not thrashers. Sadistic Ritual throw in the punkish “Dire Avidity”, knuckle dragging “Area Denial”, and no frills “Enigma, Boundless” to appease the moshist legions.
When Timothy Leary said, “Turn on, tune in, drop out”, he likely never imagined his psychedelic vision would be twisted and distorted to the point where it would be realized some half a century plus later in an album like The Enigma, Boundless. With this album, Sadistic Ritual have ascended to a new level of consciousness. Why settle for being titans of the DIY scene when you can be the genre’s answer to John Wetton era King Crimson? The Enigma, Boundless is not for everyone, especially those of an anxious disposition, but if you’re looking to have your cranium reassembled, look no further than here.
7 out of 10
Label: Prosthetic Records
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Bathory, Sodom, Voivod