40 Years of Chaos · EP.08 — Dawn of Sadness and Scream from Italy

Alex De Socchieri co-founded Dawn of Sadness in Sassari in 1993, with earliest activity from '92, to give Italian black, death, doom and grindcore a reference point in Sardinia. He built a distribution network that carried the national scene out to the European extreme metal market.

While the Cryptic Soul negotiations stalled, De Socchieri reached out to AydrA for the Scream From Italy II compilation. A contract offer followed soon after, and Psycho Pain Control came out in 1996 as D.O.S. CD03, the label's third official release after its first two compilations.

Scream From Italy II, D.O.S. CD002, gathered fourteen bands from the 1996 Italian death, black and extreme scene: Vladimir, Frantic, Eternal Sleep, In low Spirits, AydrA, hatred, In Sorrow, Emmorarge Corpse, Lacrima Christi, Mortifier, Eternal Funeral, Crus Maleficio, Athana, Iblis. A real-time snapshot of a scene. AydrA's track was the first piece recorded with Marcello Lammoglia, and it went straight to the compilation rather than the album.

Two years later came Scream From Italy III, D.O.S. CD05, 1998, carrying the primordial version of Icon of Sin: the track that would give the 1999 album its title, appearing a full year ahead of the record.