Sadistic Ritual’s Happy Death Day

On June 14, Atlanta’s Boris Records and Athens-based Unspeakable Axe Records will free thrash metal traditionalists Sadistic Ritual’s debut album Visionaire of Death from the fifth circle of Hell*.

For several years now, the band’s gruesome vision, inspired by Kreator, Sodom and Megadeth, has made for some of the best music to emerge from a metal scene that offers a little something for everyone, from the black metal nightmares of Vimur to Royal Thunder’s undefinable cauldron of sounds.

Based on the foreboding title track and the equally vicious “Malicious Misanthrope,” expect a relentless 10-song eardrum ass-whooping, courtesy of Charlie Southern (vocals, guitar), Alex Parra (guitar), Shawn Staszko (bass) and Joe Sweat (drums).

Subgenre descriptors aside, it’s dark, sinister rock music, accessible to old souls from the ‘80s yet sonically relevant as Atlanta metal trudges toward a new decade. Record release show takes place the night of June 14th at The EARL.

*(For those of us far removed from high school, that’s the circle that represents anger. It’s two doors down from violence and an ideal place to namedrop if you’re drawing a blank on heavy metal analogies.)