ASCENSION OF THE WATCHERS Numinosum (2008) Digipak CD

Burton C. Bell spent two decades making Fear Factory one of the heaviest bands in industrial metal. Then he made something that sounded like none of it, and it was genuinely fascinating.

Ascension of the Watchers was Bell's side project and Numinosum is its full statement, a gothic rock and dark ambient record that draws more from Dead Can Dance and early Projekt Records than anything in Fear Factory's back catalogue. Released in 2008, it's atmospheric, slow-burning, and deeply strange in the best way, the sound of someone with serious metal credentials choosing to make something vulnerable and cinematic instead. The dark aesthetic here isn't performative. It's considered. If you've ever wanted to hear the quieter, more haunted corner of Bell's creative headspace, this is it.

Ships from ALT CVLT in Frankston, Victoria.

Fans of: Dead Can Dance, Delerium, early Paradise Lost