Saturnalian Rites by Octonomy
*Vinyl forthcoming on 3/13/26 on Hosianna Mantra Recordings*
Octonomy emerges from the periphery with Saturnalian Rites, an ecstatic, atmospheric summoning of analog transmissions from long forgotten ritual cultural memories. Harnessing elements of dark ambient, industrial, Kosmische, new age, and early music traditions, this anticipated full-length album stands as the project's most personal and fully actualized statement to date.
This album serves as a loose, syncretic meditation on themes of things central to the rituals of the Roman observance of the winter solstice during Saturnalia — inversions, pagan revelry, alchemical transformation, destruction, and desire — while simultaneously reimagining the potential of such a festival in a post-industrial, decaying world. Swathes of susurrational drones, pulsing oscillators, and crackling textures evoke a liminal space shaped by the spiritual imprint of memories embedded in stone; Saturnalian Rites is a false ethnography of the imaginings of all those who have ever stood in awe beneath the monolithic ruins of crumbling temple pylons, carved standing stones, and cavernous subterranean chambers, all in search of a portal to empyrean realms...
Tracklist
| 1. | Grey Fields to Heaven | |
| 2. | Lord of the Two Horns | |
| 3. | Lord of Misrule | 7:11 |
| 4. | Oscilla | |
| 5. | Sigillaria | |
| 6. | Winter Solstice | |
| 7. | Ruined Abbey of Thelema | |
| 8. | Ergot | |
| 9. | Pleraca Buaircac (A Mound in the Dark Grove) | |
