Their first proper full-length, The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist, was released on November 10, 2009 through the label The Mylene Sheath in the US[10] and Make My Day Records in Europe.
The album was recorded by Kevin Mills and Tom Syrowski (Weezer, AFI) and mastered by Dave Collins (Danny Elfman, Black Sabbath).
Martinez wrote all of the songs on his own before working them out in the studio with Filloon on drums; this album also features guests like Drew Speziale of Circle Takes the Square, who provides alternately soft and screamy backing vocals on several tracks.
Eternal Rituals is based around Initiation, the semi-autobiography of Hungarian mystic, yoga practitioner and reincarnation expert Elisabeth Haich.
Martinez used the book as a rough blueprint to tell the story of a soul's "path to transcendence," beginning with an initiation and ending with the total obliteration of self—a lift-off into ego-death.
The album is the band's heaviest to date, full of chugging guitars and whooshing synths that climaxes with "Black Sarcophagus," their prog-doom thesis statement.
"It's just another hero's journey through self-awareness, determination, struggle, humility, pain, suffering, passion, love, telepathy, and ultimately transcendence to GOD-MAN status," says Martinez.