Heavy metal and the church have always been uneasy bedfellows. While "Christian metal" is somehow still a thing, its converse is far more prevalent. Satan worship is nearly a given in certain subgenres (lookin' at you, black metal) and a near-universal scorn for religious dogma fuels a good number of thrash, death, grind, and otherwise records. Simply enough, Jesus is not our homeboy. That's why an entity like Sabbath Assembly puzzles as much as it intrigues-- those unearthly purveyors of both darkness and light are not only welcome, but celebrated in joyous hymn. To be fair, the music is about as far from metal as it is possible to go before morphing into Mumford & Sons, but the intent is more sinister than any Gorgoroth recording. Sure, garbled odes to Baphomet are cool and all, but when's the last time Gaahl et al. arranged an entire record around the teachings and liturgy of a doomed apocalyptic cult? The evil that men do is far more frightening than the bleakest Biblical story or children's fable, and Sabbath Assembly tap into that rotten inner core in a disarmingly palatable way.
The addition of Throbbing Gristle's Genesis P-Orridge as "High Priest(ess)" (or narrator, if you hate fun) adds a wild element to the proceedings. Her dry, matter-of-fact proclamations about the nature of love, death, God, and Satan float in and out of the flowery arrangements like an old black crow worrying a brace of songbirds. Taken out of context, these songs sound sweet, gentle, and utterly innocuous; once their esoteric origins are factored in, though, there's something about those clear notes, jaunty gospel shuffles, and heavenly uplifted voices that's downright unnerving. It's a bit of a headfuck listening to poppy tunes that wouldn't have been out of place in the opening minutes of the dreaded Catholic school classes of my youth, and yet those clear, angelic voices are singing sweetly of Lucifer and the end of days. "Christ, You Bring the End" is not exactly "The Lord's Prayer", but then again, the Gnostic rhetoric of the Process Church of the Final Judgment inhabits realms that stretch far beyond that homely little church in Tabernacle, New Jersey.
This is Sabbath Assembly's second recorded outing, and one that comes as a bit of a surprise to anyone who paid attention to their first release and the ensuing spate of live shows and festival appearances that followed. At first, it seemed as though Restored to One would be marked down in the book of rock history as a one-off project, albeit one of its more intriguing entries. Even founder and helmsman David Nuss seemed unsure about the band's future in inteviews, but as it's become apparent, there's plenty more source material to mine and corners of the world to invade with song and strangeness. "Ye Are Gods" features a new singer, Jamie Myers (Hammers of Misfortune, Wolves in the Throne Room) whose breathy, saccharine vocals replace Jex Thoth's more throaty delivery.
The primary focus of the album is its message, conveyed through lyrics and proclamations, so Myers' voice is front and center. The musical accompaniment meanders through genres and decades, taking a hit of 60s psychedelia here, gently ripping off Coven there, raising up to gospel heights and cruising back down into poppier territory. Oddball neofolk acts like Nest, Lasher Keen, and the Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud seem to serve as an inadvertent influence, and while groovy classic rock forms the bedrock, Nuss and guitarist Imaad Wasif play around with all manner of tones and sounds to achieve that eerily mellow vibe. "Exit" opens with a moody organ overture before going full-on Pink Floydian stomp, while "We Come From the One" is all creepy bongos and ominous spoken word. "Bless Our Lord and Master" starts off with tinny chimes and a warm-voiced chorus, then builds into unexpected bombast before fading out into the delicate, thrumming folk of "We Give Our Lives". "Christ You Bring the End" is a nearly acoustic ode to the bringer of doom, and the mass keeps going-- but you're still on the edge of your seat instead of asleep on your pious grandma's shoulder.
The penultimate track, "Transcendence", is a spoken word piece narrated by an original Process Church member Timothy Wyllie, who quotes from the book Gods of War by Process Church founder Robert DeGrimston. The words themselves are unsettling and end on a low, dry note. Sabbath Assembly clearly chose to close the ceremony in this fashion in order to throw one last spotlight onto their purpose and source material. The message is everything, and on Ye Are Gods, its messengers have once more done a fine job doing God's-- and the Devil's-- work.
