With a noose around her neck and tears in her eyes, a woman contemplates her death. She has spent weeks imprisoned, tearing our her hair, screaming herself hoarse with cries of innocence. After a time, one Reverend Noyes asks for a confession of her sins. Just before the execution is carried out, she shouts back, “If you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink.” The year is 1692; the place, Salem Village. Her name was Sarah Good.

Language can hardly reflect the turbulence of such grievous times, but Sleep Serapis Sleep’s debut full-length record Pariah’s Vow ventures boldly into the psychological landscape of America’s hysteric colonial age. And, what a landscape it is. While exploring the broader historical elements at work during the witch-craze years, the album dives headlong into compelling and relatable fiction, daring listeners to stare into the malice of the human heart. Guitarists and latest additions to the band Kyle Church and Joseph Balsewicz employ a canvas of maniacal fretwork to probe the full depth and diversity of their expression. Then, the dueling screams of frontmen Michael Cattani and Clay Smith paint the horrors of our distant past upon it, as they haunt us with the tragic consequences of a single thought unbridled:

What if all you have come to fear is simply yourself?
Pariah’s Vow is Sleep Serapis Sleep’s most engaging endeavor, yet.