‘An aural channeling of H.P.Lovecraft’ is the undertitle of this compilation. Lovecraft is of course a very grateful subject for a dark music project. He is one of the best known American writers of weird and fantastic fiction, after Edgar Allen Poe perhaps. On this ‘tribute’ 9 different artists pay hommage to the grand author. Most of the projects involved are active in the dark ambient field. Most well-known acts are Schloss Tegal and Murderous Vision. Furthermore there are three acts present that released material through Somnambulant Corpse before: Tugend, Axone and Bestia Centauri. The latter two each contribute two tracks.
Though all acts have a different approach and style, there still seems to be a unified atmosphere, probably caused through the Lovecraft red line. Unfortunately I don’t have a Lovecraft classic within reach like The Call of Cthulhu” (1926) or At the Mountains of Madness (1931), so I can’t test if this cd makes a good ‘soundtrack’ while reading. But I suspect it does, because it contains some good dark and mysterious long soundscapes. A lot of fine dark ambient, at times a bit noisy (Bestia Centauri, The Hollowing, Kuru), sometimes with deep dark drones (Post Scriptum, Axone), sometimes more in atmospheric Raison d’Etre style (When Joy Becomes Sadness). I was impressed by most of the contributions, which is rare for a compilation. Especially the tracks by Tugend, Murderous Vision, When Joy Becomes Sadness and the second track of Axone were of my liking, but the other acts were no weak spots either.
A highly recommended compilation for fans of Lovecraftian fiction and the better dark ambient music, like classic Lustmord or the darker Cold Meat releases.
“I could not write about “ordinary people” because I am not in the least interested in them. Without interest there can be no art. Man’s relations to man do not captivate my fancy. It is man’s relations to the cosmos — to the unknown — which alone arouses in me the spark of creative imagination. The humanocentric pose is impossible to me, for I cannot acquire the primitive myopia which magnifies the earth and ignores the background.”
(H.P. Lovecraft – In Defence of Dagon, 1921)
