Pitchfork on Cultus Sabbati

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The first thing you're likely to hear about Cultus Sabbati is that the drone-noise-metal trio is mysterious; no one knows the actual names of the band members, where they are from, how they met or where they prefer to record. But the band is otherwise completely forthcoming about their occult beliefs, their ritualistic approach to recording, and the way they feel about many of their contemporaries. Indeed, in an interview with The Quietus, they blasted the evil posturing of fellow doom benders Sunn O))); below, they put both the controversial black metal band Liturgy and the detractors who can't seem to stop loving to hate them on notice. As it turns out, Cultus Sabbati have plenty to say, even if their names aren't part of the banter or backstory.

None of us this really matters, though, when listening to last year's excellent Garden of Forking Ways or the new Descent into the Maelstrom. Both LPs put Cultus Sabbati's demanding sense of dynamics and total tonal control in brilliantly grim focus and place the band squarely at the center of the recent pack of acts who have been turning several shapes of extreme music-- power electronics, doom metal, black metal, harsh noise-- into aggressive new varieties. Descent into the Maelstrom is one of the more brutal but balanced records we're bound to hear all year. We talked to Cultus Sabbati via e-mail.

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