ALBUM REVIEW: A Letter Of Red – Sabbath Assembly

New York via Texas collective SABBATH ASSEMBLY have been producing records steeped in the occult for close to a decade now, fervently exploring the realms of otherness and oddity. Amongst some of their first releases, the dark troupe decidedly paid homage to the Process Church Of The Final Judgement (a cult closely associated with the Church of Scientology back in the 60s) by writing a series of hymns they would have hoped to have been served at, well, mass. Other themes SABBATH ASSEMBLY have explored are that of Satanism, the mystical, and rituals that have garnered them notoriety within rock and metal circles in recent times.

In 2017, with Jamie Meyer (previously of WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM and HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE fame) firmly at the helm in the vocal department, their sixth album Rites Of Passage was decidedly a step away from the hymnal and rather a portrayal of SABBATH ASSEMBLY coming into their own sound. So now in 2019, studio album number seven A Letter Of Red aims to explore those territories found two years ago, heavily inspired by the realms of hard rock and prog of the 70s and early 80s; brazenly wrapped in a gothic shroud.

There’s a vocal layering in the mix that still sounds like a cultish chant — delivered with barely any change in key that you’d think the band are trying to raise the devil himself. Instead, lyrically SABBATH ASSEMBLY choose to focus on real world issues and histories. Opener Solve et Coagula contemplates the imprisonment of Yazidi women after ISIS attacked Mt. Sinjar in 2014, Worthless approaches the isolation found in adolescence and closer A Welcome Below tackles the trials that come hand in hand with opiate addiction. Delivered at times with medieval pacing and at others with a careening romp; it’s hard to distinguish the chosen subject matter here as it constantly steps into the murkier waters of doom and stoner rock.

It’s in The Serpent Uncoils that full effect of SABBATH ASSEMBLY’s contemporaries unfolds. Drummer Dave Nuss mimics the same patterns and fills you’d find in HEART’s Barracuda. In fact they are so similar it sparks a wonder that the two both cite the reptile species within their titles. Of course, it wouldn’t be a SABBATH ASSEMBLY record without the addition of the otherworld, and their penchant for storytelling shines like a beacon in Ascend And Descend and From The Beginning: where the collective hone in on the stories of Nepthys and Isis from Egyptian lore.

With so much experience under their belts, and a whole host of revolving band members, the collective don’t shy away from the unknown on A Letter Of Red. Where it lacks in musical dynamism, the repetitive droning of guitars and bass lead for a monotonous listen at first, it’s the intellectual presentation of archaic stories and different angles taken on issues from the other side of the globe that require multiple listens to really comprehend.

Rating: 7/10

A Letter In Red is set for release April 19th via Svart Records. 

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