FLOWERS OF RUST - CRUDE EXHIBITIONS OF THE SOUL

In November of 2025 Cleveland, Ohio based Flowers of Rust - a vehicle for the tortured and emotive musical outpourings of multi-instrumentalist Jake O'Brien - released their second full length album, Crude Exhibitions Of The Soul, on an extremely limited run of hand-numbered CDs. It seemed that this remarkable work of blackened art was destined to remain an underground secret, its desolate sonic landscape largely unexplored. However, an alliance between Flowers of Rust and international label Apocalyptic Witchcraft is set to bring richly deserved new life to this monumental collection of soul-scarring hymns. The following statement regarding the signing was issued under the Flowers of Rust name: “The journey continues. Flowers of Rust is honoured to join the Apocalyptic Witchcraft family—a collective bound by vision and intensity. Together, we move forward, gathering momentum toward an uncertain and looming future.” While Conor Droney, head of Apocalyptic Witchcraft stated: “Signing Flowers of Rust feels like the beginning of something raw, honest, and impossible to ignore.” So now the time has come to discover the secrets of Crude Exhibitions Of The Soul…

The music of Flowers Of Rust has been described by the artist as a 'journey into the forgotten, the forsaken' and with the first, haunting notes of the introductory 'Eigengrau' a pall of solitude descends, a feeling of intense loneliness - and the gate to Crude Exhibitions Of The Soul swings open… The title track that follows is a richly organic creation, formed from the essence of despair and hopelessness. The riffs seem to breathe, the rhythms like a heartbeat - alternating between frantic anxiety and utter despondency - while the vocals are unvarnished, harsh and bitingly real. Our descent into shattered abandonment continues through 'Sour Mercy', a step into emptiness that begins with a feeling of being helplessly lost, before the guitars take on more menacing and dangerous shapes, delivering sharp injections of jagged pain. 'Brave New Corpse' summons an oppressive, soul-crushing weight and all consuming, impenetrable blackness through anguished, agonized riffs, colossal chords and razorblade guitar motifs; then explodes into a rush of bleak exhilaration with melancholic melody winding wormlike through its heart. 'Bright Violence' offers stately dread and imperious dissonance, fraught with a sublevel of desperation and perturbation, before casting us into the freezing torrents of 'Mother Atrophy'. An absolute highlight amongst an array of blighted, splintered treasures, 'Mother Atrophy' drags us down into its raging, shadowed depths before casting us upon a distant shore - cold, alone, lost once more, howling beneath an endless, pitiless sky. It is then left to 'Driftwood' to render the perfect, broken conclusion to our journey through these Crude Exhibitions Of The Soul.

Featuring the formidable drumming of J V Green (Burial Oath, Goatchamber etc) and a guest guitar contribution from Thorn Blackfyre (Black Altar, Vástígr etc), Crude Exhibitions Of The Soul is a work of incredible potency. Mixed and mastered by Thom Tadsen (Cringe, Trenchgoat etc) it has been cursed with an emotional intensity that pierces the heart like a cold, steel needle. Complete with new artwork, Crude Exhibitions Of The Soul will be released by Apocalyptic Witchcraft on cassette and digital formats on August 7th and a new host of tormented souls will be drawn to its bitter radiance, like moths to a flame.

Presale link here.

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