Sabbath Assembly - 'Restored To One'

Sublime, occult music for pure worship.

Sabbath Assembly’s Restored To One is as close to a perfect release as anything I've reviewed for About.com this year; a feat deemed even more impressive by the fact that this is a debut effort.

Helmed by singer Jex Thoth (from the arcane band of neo-doomsters which bear her name), Sabbath Assembly is a musical project whose aim is to revisit and re-envision the hymns of the Process Church of Final Judgment, a fringe religious group popular in the 1970s, whose belief system centered upon the mutual worship of both God and Satan.

While the musical relevance of Restored to One to metalheads should be obvious—given the band’s occult, shadowed je ne sais qua—it would be understandable if some fans of the hard ‘n heavy might be wary of a release such as this…but they shouldn’t, for Restored To One is as sonically massive and emotionally crushing as any black or doom record you’ve heard this year.

The Process Church hymns have been re-imagined here with devilish ‘n dexterous minds, presenting the choral epics with a new coat of black, perfectly ready for ravenous consumption by any self-respecting doom fan, particularly those who have followed Jex Thoth’s own musical career. Both bands project a similarly legitimate 1970s atmosphere, with Restored To One being cut from a similar sonic cloth as Black Widow, Coven or the Wicker Man soundtrack

Jex’s voice is warm and full of analog goodness here, lilting one minute over triumphant jubilation (“Glory Hallelujah”) one minute and mournful invocation the next (“In the Time of Abaddon”). There really aren’t enough good things to be said about her performance here on Restored To One, nor is there any quarrel with the moody, magnificent music contained within the album’s grooves.

If you harbor ANY interest in atmospheric, occult music whatsoever, it’s practically pertinent that you run out immediately and purchase Sabbath Assembly’s Restored To One. It’s THAT good.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.