photos by Frank Lincoln Sample
Portland, Maine-based technical/progressive black/death metal collective SHABTI – its members also embedded in Obsidian Tongue, Falls Of Rauros, Fires In The Distance, Panopticon, and more – presents their third and most consuming album to date with Haze, Cacophony, And White Light.
Emerging from the thaw of the Maine Winter in 2008, SHABTI has been steadfastly crafting their brand of brooding technical black/death metal, eschewing gimmicks, trends, and posturing in favor of focusing on more direct sonic pursuits. After several years and permutations, SHABTI’s lineup finally coalesced into its current form, uniting drummer Ray Capizzo (Falls Of Rauros, Obsidian Tongue, Panopticon-live), vocalist/guitarist Rob Cook (Worm Altar), and bassist Brendan Hayter (Obsidian Tongue, Fires In The Distance). The band has played live frequently throughout the Northeastern United States with bands such as Immolation, Today Is The Day, Primitive Man, Ghoul, Necrot, Blood Incantation, and Conan.
Following two demos in their first few years as a band, SHABTI self-released their debut album, Paracusia, in 2013. In 2019, their second album, Trembling And Shorn, was released in cooperation with Last Mercy Emissions and the band embarked on a Northeastern US tour in support, playing with the likes of Evoken and Churchburn. Aside from the immediate positive feedback the band received from these live shows, the album garnered positive reviews, with Decibel Magazine writing, “…loaded with bizarre and hyper-technical musical structures garbed in blisteringly abrasive performance techniques… SHABTI continues to evolve in the opposite direction of today’s prevailing trends, moving out of the ethereal and enigmatic into crisp and starkly tangible forms.”
In 2022, SHABTI began tracking their third album, yet various life events, mundane commitments, festering depression, and other musical projects delayed completion of the recording process. SHABTI emerged to play several shows at the end of 2023 and early 2024, notably providing hometown support for Ghoul and Necrot, and in late 2025 into early 2026, the band strapped in and completed their third album, Haze, Cacophony, And White Light.
Musically, SHABTI has never been more calculatingly lethal, deploying an incinerating salvo of black-edged ripping death wrought in layers of inflamed technical prowess and progressive flourishes on Haze, Cacophony, And White Light. The album’s conceptual lyrics are hazy reflections of past-lived experiences intersecting with a kaleidoscope of mythological and dream-like imagery, exploring themes of grief, longing, religion, and alienation, which culminates in a dire augury of the future where The Shabti succeed their masters. Tracked by the band with additional tracking of vocals and guitars at Acadia Recording Company in Portland, Haze, Cacophony, And White Light was mixed at The Cathedral of Psychic Death by Aaron Charles (Falls Of Rauros), mastered by Dan Lowndes at Resonance Sound Studio, and completed with cover art by Ibay Arifin.
With the album’s closing track, “Rise Of The Shabti,” vocalist/guitarist Rob Cook writes, “‘Rise Of The Shabti’ is the first single to be released from the upcoming album, Haze, Cacophony, And White Light. The lyrics of the song follow the journey of the last remnants of humanity as they abandon Earth in search of new habitation, supported by and ultimately succeeded by physical artificial intelligence, which is all that is left to carry their legacy. The Shabti – funerary figures that perform manual labor for the pharaohs – represent these constructs, while also having inspired the name of the band back in 2008.”
He continues, “SHABTI rarely writes about current events; ‘Rise Of The Shabti’ was written in 2023 and (most) parallels to the current state of AI are coincidental; the lyrics are mostly an apocalyptic meditation on human frailty with various mythological references. It is one of the shortest, most straightforward, and most ‘death metal’ songs on the album, but it gives the listener a taste of some of the experimentation to be found in the rest of the tracks. This semi-eponymous track was an obvious first choice to share from the album.”
Stream SHABTI’s “Rise Of The Shabti” on Bandcamp HERE and YouTube HERE.
Haze, Cacophony, And White Light will be released digitally and on tape by Contemn Light on August 21st. Find preorders at Bandcamp HERE and watch for digital presaves to post shortly.
Haze, Cacophony, And White Light Track Listing:
1. Ambrosia And Lamb’s Blood
2. A Weary Creation
3. Blood For A Blessing
4. Haze, Cacophony, And White Light
5. Sojourner
6. Rise Of The Shabti
SHABTI has booked a hometown release show for the album at Genos on August 14th, with additional live excursions in the developing stages.
SHABTI Live:
8/14/2026 Genos – Portland, ME *record release show w/ Scattered Remnants, Bloodtied, Matriphagy [tickets]
SHABTI:
Ray Capizzo – drums
Rob Cook – vocals, guitar
Brendan Hayter – bass
Additional singles from Haze, Cacophony, And White Light, review copies, and more will drop over the weeks ahead.
https://shabti.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/shabti_official
https://www.facebook.com/metalshabti
https://linktr.ee/contemnlight
https://contemnlight.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/contemnlight
https://www.facebook.com/contemnlight