(written by Islander)
The last time we wrote here about the music of Azathoth’s Dream it caused us to wax poetical:
There is a world of the imagination in which the clock of the seasons has frozen and moves no longer, in which the freezing dark of winter is endless. Technology works no longer, and decay is the order of the day. What human life remains is now huddled around fires, and beyond those shrouds of light terrible predatory things wait in the endless night, inhuman and ascendant.
It is a world of dream, a nightmare for huddled humans but a hideous glory for the dreamer…. Other nightmare dreams of endless night may explain the title of the project’s debut album — Nocturnal Vampyric Bewitchment. But regardless, that title is well chosen because the music is all of those things — deeply nocturnal and viciously vampyric, and yes, also frighteningly bewitching.
And now we have new music from Azathoth’s Dream to consider, and specifically an excerpt named “Coven of the Ancient Black Flame” from the band’s forthcoming second album Solitary Forest Necromancy, which will be released by Iron Bonehead Productions on July 11th.
Azathoth’s Dream, for those new to the project, is part of the Order of the Broken Sword, an American circle that includes labelmates Luring, Wuldorgast, and now Sigorspéd. A solo project on the first album, Azathoth’s Dream on the new record now includes a second member, and the music displays signs of evolution too.
To be sure, the gritty whir of the riffing in “Coven of the Ancient Black Flame” is still a raw and dismal presence, a freezing harmony somehow both predatory and desolate, and the vocals still come forth like vampyric terrors as they howl and scream. But the music also flares with ethereal pinging tones, mystical and piercing but also disconcerting in their own way.
The layered riffing becomes more writhing in its movements and more tormented in its mood, and those shrill, ephemeral keyboard presences also begin to sound more distressing, all of it building to a crescendo of harrowing madness.
Even the drums, which have been stalking like a primitive beast, begin to maniacally throb, and the shrieking sounds strangled. Across the channels, the fretwork generates a harmony of malice and misery, and sounds no more human than any of the song’s other elaborate facets.
No sun shines on this experience; it seems to have no roots in the earth; its thrills and chills are abundant, as blood-rushing as they are blood-congealing, a manifestation of primeval terrors and nocturnal splendors. Or you might also think of it as the song’s title suggests — as a midnight ritual of dangerously ecstatic sorcery.
Well, enough with the new font of poetry. Just listen:
Iron Bonehead will release the album on CD and vinyl LP formats. As usual, there will be no pre-orders, but you’ll find ordering opportunities on the appointed date via the links below.
We’re also including a stream of the first-released song from the album, the well-named “Malevolence Enshrined“.
MORE INFO:
https://azathothsdream.bandcamp.com
https://www.ironbonehead.de
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/ironboneheadproductions