First off,
It’s important to me to mention in reviewing this book, that I did not receive
an actual finished copy of this book, but instead the text and cover art were
forwarded to me by Barry McDonald from Scream of Terror E-zine for review.
Seeing
first the cover and reading the title of this book, I expected a flashy,
shallow, cursory book mentioning only relatively contemporary bands exclusively
from the heavy metal music scene.
Instead, I discovered an exhaustively well-researched work which rather
than superficially glossing over the more popular musicians which reference
Lovecraft’s work, presents an equally exhaustive coverage of bands whose
musical creativity was influenced by the writing and life of Howard Phillips
Lovecraft.
It is
impossible to be comprehensive when researching and creating a book which
chooses for its topic music inspired by the writing and life of H. P.
Lovecraft. The author recognizes this
impossibility in his words, “In no way can this text be considered
exhaustive.” New bands are born every
day, and will continue to be inspired by the writing of H. P. Lovecraft, or
perhaps even be inspired by creators of music, literature and film who were
inspired by Lovecraft.
The author
exhibits a particular bias against music and musicians that derived their
inspiration from the films of Stuart Gordon.
The films of Stuart Gordon, although many are unmistakably Lovecraftian,
have been filtered through the creative interpretation of the director, and I
can relate to the author’s universal dismissal of musicians and music which
have derived their inspiration from the director’s interpretation of
Lovecraft’s work. The author likewise
remains a Lovecraft purist in avoiding digression into addressing music
inspired by authors who were inspired by Lovecraft and I admire his purely
Lovecraftian bias.
In this
book, the author includes everything which I expected to find in a work which
addresses music inspired by the work of H. P. Lovecraft. All of the music and musicians that one
would expect mentioned in a work of this kind are addressed every Lovecraftian
and Cthulu musical reference which easily comes to mind. What surprised me was the number of
Lovecraftian songs and performers of which I had previously been
oblivious. This absence in my area of
knowledge has been amended by this lengthy discourse on the topic.
The author
begins with a brief introductory chapter about Howard Philips Lovecraft’s life
and work. Following chapters are
separated by musical genre covering Psychedelia, Prog Rock, two chapters
devoted to Heavy Metal, Punk Rock, Goth, and Electronica, even a chapter covering
musical theater. The author also
addresses the uniquely fandom inspired art of “filking”, which I had expected
and would have been disappointed to have not seen mentioned.
It is
difficult to convey through words the sound and feeling of hearing music, but
the author creatively tries to give the reader a sense of what experiencing the
songs addressed in this book might be like.
In doing so, the author seems to have made an effort to avoid
unnecessary repetition of his descriptions, and is successful in using a varied
vocabulary in his attempts to describe what experiencing the music might feel
like. In fact, I must admit that the
author’s descriptions inspired in me a yearning to hear the pieces which he
describes. I hope that this book may be
accompanied by a CD containing musical selections covered in the text, or
re-released including a musical sampling of the less well known performers and
musical selections, since I think this would greatly add to the reader’s
experience of the book.
Regarding
the author’s style, the author samples from the work of Lovecraft authorities,
lyrics from the songs inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, and colorful selections from
interviews with the musicians that created these works focusing on the ways
which the works of H. P. Lovecraft inspired them to create their musical
homages to H. P. Lovecraft’s life and work.
Often comparing lyrical passages from songs with excerpts from the
Lovecraft stories which inspired them, allowing easy side by side comparison. Many of the interviews are previously
unavailable, having been conducted by the author while during his research for
this book. These interviews serve an
additionally useful purpose clarifying many myths about songs which had
previously been thought to have derived inspiration from the works of H. P.
Lovecraft, which in fact were either only minimally inspired or not inspired or
not inspired by Lovecraft at all.
On a
positive note, I can honestly say that this book is a welcome addition to the
continually growing body of works inspired by the work of H. P. Lovecraft, and
a pleasure to read for those that have already have a firm foundation in all
things Lovecraftian, having read the entirety of Lovecraft’s works and are devotees
of the writing and life of Lovecraft.
This is also one of the only books which I reviewed which did not
contain obvious spelling or grammatical errors aside from stylistic
indulgences. The text itself is written
both creatively and well.
As a precaution, it should be mentioned that
people who are unfamiliar with the works of H. P. Lovecraft may feel
understandably disoriented without a solid background in Lovecraftian lore to
frame this work. But this is unlikely
to be much of a problem since this book’s target audience will most likely be
at least familiar with Lovecraft’s works.
A different
problem which I experienced is not being familiar with a majority of the music
and musicians covered in this nearly exhaustive work on the topic of
Lovecraftian music and musicians. I
found it difficult to stay interested in an in depth description of a song
which I have never heard performed by a band of whom I have never heard.
I have to
agree with two passages by S.T. Joshi, author of the Lovecraft biography, H.P.
Lovecraft: A Life.
“(Gary Hill’s) coverage from the 1960s group H. P.
Lovecraft to Asmodeus X is exhaustive and comprehensive, and his sensitivity to
the Lovecraftian overtones of songs and albums that do not, at first glance,
seem obviously inspired by Lovecraft is impressive.” And that “Gary has also
performed a notable task in interviewing many of the musicians whose work he
discusses, so that we have first-hand knowledge of how these artists came upon
Lovecraft, what they think of his work, and how their own music is meant to be
an homage to the lantern-jawed New England writer.” It is unquestionable that the amount of time
and effort the author went into researching this book is truly admirable.
I recognize
my own personal biases in reviewing books, and even as I write that this book
easily exceeds the depth and breadth of my interest in reading about
Lovecraftian inspired music, I must put forth that this book is a perfect
resource guide for any musician desiring to pay tribute to Lovecraft and to
discover the musicians who have preceded them, and the musical tributes to one
of America’s most enduring authors of the occult which those musicians have
created.
On the internet:
