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Sabbath Assembly Are Setting Aside Occult Hymns for Human Ones

With 'Rites of Passage,' the occult rockers leave their cultish beginnings behind and look to the future.

Sabbath Assembly is an artist collective in the truest sense. The progressive, melodic, often dreamy doom rock outfit's rotating cast of members was solidified by the darkly ethereal singer Jamie Myers, and the band has settled into a groove. Its current lineup also features Kevin Hufnagel of Gorguts and Dysrhythmia renown and newcomer Ron Verod of Psalm Zero and Kayo Dot alongside bassist Johnny Deblase and band founder Dave Nuss. The members themselves are second to the vision they create in unison, and on their new album, Rites of Passage (out May 12 via Svart Records), that vision deals with the near-universal transitions we make in life— birth, growth, socialization, and death.

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However, the release of Rites of Passage isn't just a commentary on life in the abstract; it signifies a transitional moment for the band. They've been steadily moving past the strong ties to the hymnody of The Process Church of The Final Judgment—a Scientology splinter group based in London that reached peak relevance in the 1960s and 70s—that informed the band's earlier work. As they've moved towards more original material, Sabbath Assembly has also focused hard on pushing their creative boundaries by incorporating stunning visual art and video work (as seen in their new video for "Does Love Die," which Myers shadow casted and edited). I caught up with Myers right after she arrived home in Texas following a recent short run of shows, and broke down some of those themes as they relate to society and the modern disruption of some of our sacred long-standing rituals. Read on for our conversation, and listen to the full album stream of Rites of Passage.

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