If Sutekh Hexen continues their (1) A: [quest] B: [onslaught] C: [ritualistic crawl] through the (2) A: [noise] B: [black metal] C: [avant-garde] underground at this pace, they stand to build a legacy of restless experimentalism along the lines of (3) A: [Ulver] B: [Coil] C: [sunn 0)))]. Since 2010, the evolving Bay Area project has issued a stream of (4) A: [tapes] B: [discs] C: [baroque limited edition packages] documenting the aural and visual aesthetics of Kevin Gan Yuen, A.C. Way, and their collaborators. In less capable hands, such a busy release schedule runs the risk of diluting a catalog, but the SH camp remains consistent in their (5) A: [evisceration tactics] B: [rigorous studio documentation] C: [TONES] to the point that every burst of new or reissued material warrants deep listening.
Monument of Decay, the project’s fourth object of 2013, comprises four five-minute tracks, each of which twists and mangles signifiers of any number of “extreme musics” into a compressed narrative arc. On the screen in front of you, my adjective-laden description of the band’s (6) A: [guttural demonic howling] B: [overwhelming bass frequencies] C: [blown-out tremolo-picked guitar] can kinda hint at the intensity of this experience. In real life, with the stereo cranked and all infants or skittish adults either carted off wholesale or politely asked to consider leaving the room, shit gets serious. Prepare yourself for the (7) A: [widescreen terror] B: [dark ambient meditation] C: [shred] about to reach you in the stream below:
Monument of Decay ships this month in limited 12-inch pressings via Black Horizons and a lavish two-cassette edition (23 of which come with “two vials containing human blood and bone dust”) via Beläten.
• Sutekh Hexen: http://www.sutekhhexen.org
• Black Horizons: http://www.black-horizons.com
• Beläten: http://www.belaten.se
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