Darkest of the Hillside Thickets - Nyarlathotep

The Crawling Chaos.
The Faceless God.
The messenger of the outer gods.
Nyarlathotep.

The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets is a perfect band for what I like to write about. Hailing from Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, this lovable band of rock nerds have created something truly wonderful; a cheeky punk rock band whose majority of songs are half comedy half grim homages to H.P. Lovecraft.

It is a perfect idea for a rock band, and something I dearly needed in my life.

This light-hearted approach to Lovecraft is something of akin to the horror comedy genre of movies like “Evil Dead” or “Reanimator,” where humour is found amongst the deadly and horrible. Such things have always touched upon my sensibilities and dark sense of humour and after many years of gradually listening to more and more music by Darkest of the Hillside Thickets I have come to love the band and all that they do.

Despite the fact no one I know has ever heard of them, Darkest of the Hillside Thickets have been around since 1993. That is almost twenty-five years of being virtual unknowns, and once again I have the internet to thank for introducing them to me. A cult band if there ever was one, the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets have done a handful of small shows every few years in the British Columbia area, sometimes branching out into Washington state, maybe elsewhere, I do not know.

Way back in the day I hosted a radio show, and one night I was digging deep trying to find songs to play in a Lovecraft theme episode, and that was when I discovered Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. At the time I had only been listening to songs like “The Innsmouth Look” and “Yog-Sothoth.” It would take a long time to discover some of their best that came out later like “Shhh,” “Frogstar” and “The Math Song,” none of which have any notable connection to Lovecraft, but “You Fool Warren is Dead!” is absolutely about “The Statement of Randolph Carter,” and it is fantastic. However, my favorite, is one of the first I ever heard “Nyarlathotep.”

I am a man who deeply enjoys deep lyrics, but today will not be one of those days where I post some quote from the song in the blog and blab about how clever it is, because in “Nyarlathotep” the words are not in English. If the comment section on youtube.com is to be believed, Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are singing in ancient Egyptian. Upon further research I have since learned that the band reached out to their fans to help write “Nyarlathotep” finding a fan who actually spoke, or at least knew, middle Egyptian. That sort of artist fan relationship is very endearing.

Also judging from the comment section, the Japanese really like “Nyarlathotep.”

From what sounds like a tambourine, a death rattle is created, and it is the first sound in “Nyarlathotep,” the first sting that brings out the deathly ambient sound. Next the war drums hit and a rolling thunder carries us forward to the lead guitar and Egyptian vocal melody.

"Nyarlathotep"
by Erkanerturk

I have talked in the past about the sound of implied terror and horror, and “Nyarlathotep” has something of that, but also something else, it has that joyful levity. Like all the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets songs there is an ironic mirth added to the songs of dread; and dread is an appropriate description of the subject matter.

Everything Lovecraft wrote, and everything he created, was horrifying but also nihilistic, and the being Nyarlathotep is no exception. The space monsters in Lovecraft’s works are also ultra dimensional gods, and are often very difficult to describe because they are so alien. As I explained in the last review, Cthulhu physically is the most human, somehow, and as such he has proven to be the easiest for fans to rationalize in their minds and illustrate, and this probably goes a long way to explain Cthulhu’s popularity. The most human cosmic god Lovecraft created in personality is probably Nyarlathotep. None of the Lovecraft gods have any relatable human motivations or emotions, they are completely unrelatable, except for Nyarlathotep.

Using his shape shifting powers Nyarlathotep has through out history appeared as a human, most notably as an obsidian dark skinned Egyptian, who shows devices and objects of wonderful and terrible affects. His powers are many and he could cause massive harm at any time to all human civilization, but he relents, for Nyarlathotep enjoys toying with humans, we are his play things, his greatest source of amusement. Nyarlathotep’s playfulness and cruelty are inherently human traits, his dark sense of humour and manipulative manner is the behavior of a trickster, and humans can relate to that.

This video from the Exploring Series explains Nyarlathotep better than I can:

The Exploring Series - Nyarlathotep:

I really like the Exploring Series, he talks about all my favorite things, Middle Earth, Elder Scrolls, and Lovecraft. We should probably hang out.

In summary, some nerds in British Columbia decided to make punk band where they combine horror and comedy to sing about a variety things, but namely Lovecraft’s mythos, and I like them because their fun.

- King of Braves

Metallica - All Nightmare Long

For the longest time I have had mixed feelings about Metallica. I love Metallica, they are the premier American metal band, and more so than any other band they brought metal music to the mainstream. I love Metallica’s first five albums, and there are good number of really goods songs on their sixth and seventh album. However, Metallica did sell out.

Selling out is a controversial and complicated thing, as the nature of it is largely subjective. Some die hard fans think the slightest change in a band’s lineup or musical stylings is an automatic sign of selling out, some defend a musical group they love even when they blatantly start doing indigent things solely for money. I do not feel that Metallica sold out when they made their first music video for the song “One,” that was just them finally having the resources to do something artistic like they never could before, and the “One” music video is freaking epic. I do not feel that James Hetfield wanting to sing a country song was him selling out, that was just some strange different thing he wanted to do. I do not feel that having he Black album produced by a different production company was selling out, that was just that next logical move for the distribution of their music.

I think the movement Metallica sold out was when they promised to perform a live concert of their new album, the Black album, and they just played the CD for everyone instead. I mean, what the fuck was that about? Maybe they were not totally corporate whores at that point, and the Black album is amazing, but that moment, that was the beginning of the end.

Then Napster happened. I respect that Ulrich did not want his music stolen, but talk about fighting against technology, and talk about unappreciation for the real goal, which is sharing your art with the world. The point is, Metallica made it clear they cared more about money than making music and while Load and Reload had some great songs, there was a big dip in overall inspiration and quality. Then “St. Anger” came out in 2003, and I thought I was just about finished with Metallica forever.

If all you want is money, then I am specifically not going to buy your music. Your head is in the wrong place. Go home Metallica, you’re drunk.

So… I sort of have mixed feelings about Metallica. On one hand I love them, and their earlier music is some of the most important metal music ever. On the other hand, they behaved like such sad prostitutes for such a long time and the music they made was really bad probably because of it.

In 2008 “Death Magnetic” came out, and despite everyone telling me it was pretty good, I put off listening to it for six or seven years. When I finally did listen to it, I was forced to admit that it was pretty good. It was not a return to providence like “Master of Puppets” but it was a huge step back in the right direction. To recover from the cringe that was “St. Anger” Metallica had to go back, to go forward.

I have made it pretty clear what early day Metallica charms me the most, their obsession with death, and deeper than that, their interest in horror of the Lovecraft variety. What better way to return to form than to have Metallica write a new song about cosmic horror.

The single song I took the greatest liking to from “Death Magnetic” was easily “All Nightmare Long.” Long before I began to dissect the lyrics, as is my want, I could feel a Lovecraft vibe. Metallica had worked such magic in “The Call of Ctulu” and while being fundamentally a very different song “All Nightmare Long” had that same dangerous ambience. I could tell it was a Lovecraft inspired song, even before I dove into the lyrics.

As it turns out “All Nightmare Long” is about the Hounds of Tindalos. I have read every story by Lovecraft… and I had no idea what the Hounds of Tindalos were.

"Hound of Tindalos"
by Mike Franchina

As it turns out the Hounds of Tindalos are not from a Lovecraft story, but are from a story by Frank Belknap Long and later these creatures were folded into the Lovecraft mythos by August Derleth, and I had to look all that up. Apparently, Lovecraft did mention the extra dimensional beings in “The Whisper in Darkness” but I do not remember that.

The Hounds of Tindalos exists outside of space and time and they hunger for something in human life that makes them hunt out humans once they can make a connection to them. If I am understanding what I have read online correctly they are creatures of sharp angles and can therefore pass through any angle less than a hundred and twenty degrees, whatever the hell that means exactly. I suppose rational do not apply to abominations from other dimensions.

Like a lot of creatures of otherworldly terror, the Hounds of Tindalos are very mysterious, even in the stories specifically about them. The appearance of the Hounds is unknown as no one who has ever seen them has survived but apparently their appearance is somewhat bat like, and the name comes more from their nature than their form. But how does Metallica describe this?

“Hunt you down without mercy,
Hunt you down all nightmare long.”

This is an amazing chorus whether you know about the terrible Hounds of Tindalos or not. Some determined killer unrelenting hunting down their prey, possibly during sleep, possibly during a waking nightmare; either way this is intense and exciting, and it makes for a great metal song.

“All Nightmare Long” is pretty great for a few reasons but it represents hope. How does a nightmare song about being mercilessly hunted down by otherworldly monsters represent hope? The content is not hopeful, the existence of the song itself is hopeful, just as “Death Magnetic” is an album of hope. Metallica needed to go backward to go forward. By returning to form, even just a little there is the new hope that future Metallica songs will be good, and maybe they can add to their already impressive catalogue.

Now all I have to do is listen to “Hardwire… to Self-Destruct,” maybe I’ll get around to it in six or seven years.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Metallica - The Thing That Should Not Be

I find Metallica a difficult band to talk about. A band of Metallica’s success, quality and legacy, has lots to talk about, and I know a lot about them, however the gulf between what I know and what hardcore Metallica fans know is sizeable. It is like talking about the Beatles, there are some people out there that know so much about them, it feels almost pointless to try to contribute anything new to the conversation.

You know what I also know a lot about, H.P. Lovecraft.

I wrote what I would consider to be my best Music In Review to date in 2013, and it was focused around Metallica’s “Call of Ktulu.” I combined my knowledge of heavy metal music and horror literature to create what I think is a nice commentary on both subjects. So, I feel like I should continue to play to my strengths.

I think it is safe to say that Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” is one of the greatest metal albums of all time, and I believe it is the most beloved album by Metallica fans. Basically no one needs me to elaborate further on that point.

Within the album “Master of Puppets” the two most popular songs are “Sanitarium” and the title track “Master of Puppets.” Obviously both songs are fantastic. “Sanitarium” is about being in an insane asylum, and poses the interesting situation that a sane person could be unjustly placed with the asylum and the life they live there within would drive them insane, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Master of Puppets” meanwhile is about drug addiction, and the drug is the master and user is the puppet, a very metal piece of poetry. Again though, no one needs me to point out how awesome these two songs are or what they are about, they are both infamous and everyone knows how fantastic they are.

Does everyone know “The Thing That Should Not Be?” I mean does everyone know what the thing that should not be is? Because I can help with that.

“The Call of Ktulu” may have been the first Lovecraft inspired song by Metallic but not the last. Traces of Lovecraft are in many of Metallica’s songs, and mostly with similar themes like insanity, like the afore mentioned “Sanitarium.” The song “The Thing That Should Not Be” is rare insofar that is explicitly mention beings and other things in it’s lyrics from Lovecraft’s works. Every line in fact appears to reference something from the Cthulhu mythos.

“Messenger of fear in sight,
Dark deception kills the light.”

This opening line is a touch vague, as there is a lot of dark deception in a lot of literature, horror and otherwise, Lovecraft or not. However, I suspect this is a reference to Nyarlathotep. Nyarlathotep is the message of the father god Azathoth. Nyarlathotep is a shape shifting, mind reading, trickster sort of like a much crueler and much more monstrous version of Loki from Norse mythology.

"Deep One" by Kingovrat

“Hybrid children watch the sea,
Pray for father, roaming free.”

This is a reference to the deep ones. In the book “Shadow over Innsmouth” it is discovered that the people of Innsmouth, a fictional new England town, obtain their wealth several generations ago when a sea captain made a deal with the deep ones, these andromorphic frogs with fish faces who dwell at the bottom of the ocean. In exchange for wealth, the deep ones wanted Innsmouth’s women, and thus the descendants of Innsmouth, the current generation, were mixed raced slimy hybrid frog people. The praying for father, roaming free, is possibly a reference to Cthulhu, the god the deep ones worship, however I suspect it is a reference to Dagon, the original frog/fish monster man Lovecraft created in the book of the same name. Also, Dagon is mentioned briefly in “Shadow over Innsmouth” where he is referred to as Father Dagon.

“Fearless wretch,
Insanity,
He watches,
Lurking beneath the sea,
Great old one,
Forbidden site,
He searches,
Hunter of the shadows is rising,
Immortal,
In madness you dwell.”

It is possible the chorus could be taken to be either Dagon or Cthulhu, but I suspect the mention of things like “immortal” and “great old one” is more likely to be in reference to the elder god Cthulhu, with the “forbidden site” being the lost city of R’lyeh, the very place Cthulhu rests.

"The Crawling Chaos"
by Ramsimation

“Crawling chaos, underground,
Cult has summoned, twisted sound.”

The Crawling Chaos is the title and description used to describe the afore mentioned Nyarlathotep. While being a shapeshifter his true form is a tripodal worm like monster with no discernable neck or eyes, with a writhing mess of tentacles and indeterminate number of arms sprouting from his body. When taken a more human form he leads the cult of Azathoth.

“Out from ruins once possessed,
Fallen city, living death.”

This is most likely a reference to Cthulhu and the lost city of R’lyeh. I suppose it is possible that it could be reference to “The Nameless” city, another dead city and title of another Lovecraft book.

“Not dead which eternal lie,
Stranger eons death may die.”

This verse is a modification of:

“That is not dead can eternal lie,
And with strange eons even death may die.”

This passage is from the Necronomicon and appears to a few Lovecraft stories, most notably “The Call of Cthulhu,” and also “The Nameless City.” The passage is about the old gods, and how they cannot die and are merely resting, in the case of Cthulhu, which is doubtlessly the elder god Metallica is singing about, the great monster sleeps beneath the sea, undying and when enough time has passed he will awaken and horrors unimaginable will be wrecked upon the world. Even death may die? Maybe this is to suggest a fate far worse than death? Perhaps there is an end even to the elder gods if enough time and strange events were to pass?

And lastly:

Cthulhu by unknown

“Drain you of your sanity,
Face the thing that should not be.”

Given the strong presence of Cthulhu in this song, and his overall popularity and obvious influence on Metallica, the thing that should not be, could conceivably be Cthulhu.

However, the crawling chaos, Nyarlathotep was also mentioned, and it is sort of strange to say this, but Cthulhu is physically the most human looking of all of Lovecraft’s elder gods, the easiest to visual make sense of. So perhaps the thing that should not be is the cult leader, Nyarlathotep, in this true form as an incomprehensible mass of nonsense.

There is still another possibility, Azathoth. Azathoth true form is even harder to describe or make sense of than Nyarlathotep’s, and it is effectively his cult that has been mentioned whenever Nyarlathotep is referenced as the leader thereof in this song. Azathoth is the most powerful elder god, with it being believed that all of reality is simply his dream and should he ever awaken all of reality would cease to exist. That is certainly a thing that should not be.

We could also invoke Yog-Sothoth, whose appearance is an insanity inducing storm of tentacles, eyes and teeth, but he is not mentioned anywhere in the song, even tangentially, so it is highly doubtful Metallica is referring to him.

It is not entirely clear what the thing that should not be is, because there are so many things in Lovecraft’s works that should not exists even within the crazy continuity he had created. However, the best guess is probably Cthulhu.

So, let’s recap; the obvious, Metallica, great band, “Master of Puppets” is an amazing album and the title track and “Sanitarium” are great, probably the best songs off the album. The less obvious is “The Thing That Should Not Be” is possibly the third best song on the album “Master of Poppets,” and the very thing that should not be is most likely Cthulhu.

I hope I helped.

- King of Braves

Metallica - The Call of Ktulu

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far...”

- H.P. Lovecraft (The Call of Cthulu)

Metallica's first two albums
Kill 'em All (1983)
Ride The lightning (1984)

Early in their career’s James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich were obsessed with death. Many of their songs were about death, so much so, their first studio album was titled “Kill ‘Em All.” A lot of people really like “Kill ‘Em All” and its raw metal power, but I always thought it was raw to the point of being somewhat goofy in construction and theme, and to be fair we expect that from a first effort of pretty much anyone. Furthermore Metallica proved to be pioneers so their first effort was an experimentation of radical new sounds which likely resulted in some unforeseen challenges regarding refinement. I believe Metallica’s second album “Ride the Lightning,” another album title about death via the electric chair, is a superior album in basically every way and also the beginning of everything that would make Metallica special till the time when they sold out, but the selling out process is a whole other story.

There is a whole variety of ways to express your creativity when obsessing about death, especially when you are Metallica. “Ride the Lightning” as stated a moment ago is about the execution of a criminal via the electric chair. “Seek and Destroy” is fairly self explanatory kind of slaughter, that we could perhaps label as militaristic. “Creeping Death” is about an Angel watching as a plague wipes out mankind. “Fade to Black” is about suicide. And to top things off “The Four Horsemen” is about the end of days where everyone dies. But like so many people fascinated with the horror of death Hetfield and Ulrich were drawn to horror literature.

The history of great American horror literature can be simplified in three parts, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. This is a gross oversimplification because it skips over many great authors, especially modern ones, but the public at large is most familiar with or is most influenced by these three titans of the genre.

Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King

Though tales of terrifying intrigue were written before his time, Poe basically invented the idea of writing stories for the sole purpose of scaring people and in turn he basically invented horror literature. Lovecraft would completely reinvent everything about human perception and would subtly influence every horror author and movie that came after him. And Stephen King, well we all know who he is, as he is the most commercially successful writer of all time. If you want a simple explanation of how important Lovecraft is, I would offer you this statement; Stephen King spent a majority of his time trying to be Lovecraft.

Magic the Gathering's eldritch horrors
the Eldrazi are based off of Lovecraft's
old ones.  Nice artwork.

The interesting thing about Lovecraft is how he has created so many things within our modern horror zeitgeist even though a majority of people somehow do not know the man ever even existed. For example the Necronomicon (the book of the dead) which appears in almost every movie, book, or comic book about witches, demon summoning, or what have you (most notably in The Evil Dead series) was invented by Lovecraft. Akrham asylum in Batman comics was a reoccurring fictional location in Lovecraft’s books, as the majority of the characters who somehow managed to survive their horrific adventures would usually go mad and end up there. The Deep Ones a race of frog/fish humanoids who live on the bottom of the sea make common appearances in video games most notably the Murlocks in World or Warcraft, even though the name Murlock is taken from H.G. Wells “Time Machine.” John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” arguably the best horror movie ever was an adaptation of the book “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell which in turn is completely inspired by Lovecraft’s “The Mountains of Madness.” And Lovecraft’s “The Mountains of Madness” is in some ways inspired by Poe’s “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.” Tekeli-li....

The list of movies and video games inspired by Lovecraft is very long; in fact this list supplied by Wikipedia is missing seven or eight movies I can reference off the top of my head, like “Reanimator”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos_in_popular_culture

Perhaps Lovecraft’s most famous book is “The Call of Cthulhu.”

Cthulhu by Obrotowy

Cthulhu, Kthulu, Ktulu, or Cthulu, the name is supposed to be unpronounceable by human tongue so which ever you prefer. Cthulhu is an ancient god who sleeps at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean; he speaks to those who worship him through telepathic visions. When Cthulhu awakens he will devastate the world and those whom he spares will be taught new forms of decadence and destruction. He is the ruinner of worlds and he has become very popular recently. I just finished reading the eighteenth book in the Vampire Hunter D series “Fortress of the Elder God” where the god in question was Clulu. In World of Warcraft, again, Cthune is the end boss in the Temple of Ahn'qiraj. An online developed game “Ktulu Save the World” is an ironically popular little RPG. Kthulu even made an appearance not too long ago on South Park. There are hundreds of other examples I could point out, but before any of these things happened in 1984 Metallica released “The Call of Ktulu” an instrumental inspired by the book of the same name.

A reoccurring theme throughout Lovecraft’s work is that mankind continues to survive solely because we are beneath the notice of the horrible eldritch abominations that could easily wipe us out, and the more someone learns about the true horrors at the fringes of the world the more those horrors become aware of you. The unknown is the greatest thing human beings fear and in Lovecraft’s works, ignorance is our own only fragile salvation. The gradual discovery of the mystery and horror of Ktulu is the perfect example of the majority of Lovecraftian narrative where the more our primary character learns what they are dealing with the more they are driven insane, and I believe Metallica has captured this perfectly and without words.

Despite being an instrumental “The Call of Ktulu” is, to me at least, obviously about Ktulu the ruinner of worlds. Perhaps it is simply by the power of persuasion and the title gives a mindset for all of us to fixate on, but the movements of Metallica’s “The Call of Ktulu” to me symbolize a decent into madness. Metallica’s “The Call Of Ktulu” like so many other great songs has fantastic rising tension, it a song built on growing escalation. The inclusion of more complicated melodies are gradually introduced and the sound grows heavier, or at least seems too as time goes on. If nothing else “The Call of Ktulu” is an intense haunting song and once the concept of Ktulu is placed over top it perfectly captures the tone and mood of the novel, you add in the fact this is a great guitar song, probably Kirk Hammet’s best work and I am left to conclude that “The Call of Ktulu” is basically a perfect song.

Here is some non-news for you, Metallica is hugely successful.

Metallica is so successful, and not just commercially, that they have been huge inspirations to the vast majority of American metal bands that have come since. There is an interesting cultural parallel that can be drawn between American horror literature and American heavy metal. The expansion and growth of art works in fluid movements, and much the way Poe inspired Lovecraft who in turn inspired King; Metallica has inspired fellow musicians and fans alike with their music, so much so I have lived several personal anecdotal stories where I introduced Metallica fans to Lovecraft through “The Call of Ktulu.” But more importantly to this vein of conversation Metallica is so well liked by their metal compatriots they have been covered a lot.

Without going into two many examples a quick Google search reveals seven tribute albums to Metallica:

- Metal Militia: A Tribute To Metallica Vol. 1 (1994)
- Metal Militia: A Tribute To Metallica Vol. 2 (1996)
- The Blackest Album: An Industrial Tribute to Metallica Vol. 1 (1998)
- The Blackest Album: An Industrial Tribute to Metallica Vol. 2 (2000)
- Metal Militia: A Tribute To Metallica Vol. 3 (2000)
- Metallica Assault: A Tribute to Metallica (2001)
- The Blackest Album: An Industrial Tribute to Metallica Vol. 3 (2002)

There are two sets of three volume works here; also worthy of note is this article listing the supposed ten best covers of “Enter Sandman” - http://ultimateclassicrock.com/best-cover-versions-of-metallicas-enter-sandman/

I think there is also a Metallica Christmas tribute album out there somewhere.

Most of these albums slipped into obscurity not long after their initial release and now are very difficult to obtain without a deliberate effort which is way you have probably never heard of any of them until now. There is one cover I am very fond of however, off of “Metal Militia: A Tribute To Metallica Vol. 3” a band called Headroom did a cover of “The Call of Ktulu.” And I know nothing about Headroom other than this cover.

Headroom - The Call of Ktulu

A majority of all cover songs are little more than a performance of the same song by someone else. There is nothing wrong with this, but as a consequence a majority of cover songs typically fail to impress or be remembered, case in point the seven tribute albums I just listed. The cover songs that typically stay with us are the ones that bring something new to the table and in the case of Headroom they introduced lyrics to “The Call of Ktulu.”

Not since Emmerson, Lake and Palmer has the inclusion of lyrics to a cover been so unnecessary (see Emmerson, Lake and Palmer’s cover of Mussorgsky’s “The Great Gate of Kiev”) an instrumental song is almost always best left as an instrumental, sometimes things are beyond words and at times it is presumptuous to attempt to apply poetry or specified meaning to someone else’s creative effort, as the possibility for misrepresentation/misinterpretation is high. However Headroom did something very smart with their cover of “The Call of Ktulu,” they returned to the source material.

“The Call of Ktulu” is a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft, so any newly added lyrics should also be a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. When you listen to the lyrics from Headroom’s cover they sound very Lovecraftian in word choice and structure and a quick search reveals the dialogue to be a slightly modified passage from “The Necronomicon.” No not from the book of the dead by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred which is of course fictional, but from the Necronomicon Project. There have been multiple published version of the supposed book of the dead but the sample quote from this cover song is from the Necronomicon Project – Book 1: Testimony of the Mad Arab, an online tribute to H.P. Lovecraft and a serious attempt at creating a literary version of the fictional legendary book.

These lyrics work. Read the lyrics (more or less) and the rest of the Necronomicon project here: http://www.chaosmatrix.org/library/books/necro_proj/n_hazred.html

And the reason these lyrics work is that both the passage from The Necronomicon Project and the music from Metallica’s “The Call of Ktulu” are tributes to the same source material. Headroom wisely combined two works inspired by, and mimicking in style to, the classic American horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. In the end we get a unique and fun cover song.

The study of the anthropology of music is a fun hobby, but also it gives additional meaning and significance to everything. Metallica’s “The Call of Ktulu” is made all the richer once you know about H.P. Lovecraft’s novel “The Call of Cthulhu” and vise versa. The same goes for Headroom’s cover and their reference to The Necronomicon Project. When all four works are considered together, it creates this very satisfying sense of belonging and expansion. From here we can include any number of things that tie back together either to Metallica or Lovecraft and this very powerful connection between artists of various mediums can clearly be seen and what we are seeing is art transcending into culture, and that is awesome.

“The Call of Ktulu” by Metallica is more than a great guitar song it has become a very valuable brick in the construction of our modern zeitgeist of horror and metal and who knows what else.

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

P.S.

Other sons by Metallica inspired by H.P. Lovecraft are “The Thing that should not be” and “All Nightmare Long.”