THIEF, the Los Angeles-based dark electronic project of multi-instrumentalist Dylan Neal, formerly of San Francisco experimental black metal outfit BOTANIST, announces its new album Sermons from the Pit, out November 27 via Prophecy Productions. 

Described as “what happens when Portishead and Nine Inch Nails have sex in a haunted church,” THIEF fuses trip hop, industrial, jungle, metal, and experimental electronics with manipulated sacred chants and choral samples, creating an immersive sound Neal calls “Dungeon Pop.” Drawing inspiration from Portishead and Ulver, and earning comparisons to Nine Inch Nails, Tool, and Tears for Fears, THIEF has carved out a singular space between dark electronic and heavy music. The project has been featured by Decibel and NOISEY.

Before founding THIEF, Neal established himself as the hammered dulcimer player for BOTANIST, later contributing dulcimer and bass arrangements to the band’s acclaimed The Shape of He to Come. Their creative relationship continued with the 2021 split release Cicatrix/Diamond Brush. As THIEF, Neal has released Thieves Hymn in D Minor (2016), Map of Lost Keys (2019), The 16 Deaths of My Master (2021), and Bleed, Memory (2024). Sermons from the Pit marks the project’s fifth full-length and its most ambitious and uncompromising work to date.