I do not think that it is absurd to consider the Necronomicon as one of the most enigmatic and secretive books in history of occultism and (black) magic. It was once written by the Mad Arab aka Abdul Alhazred. The latter, however, did not really exist, as you might probably know; yet it’s a character coming from the unique brain of Howard P. Lovecraft. I am not going too deep into this subject, even-though it is of an undeniable fantastic (and important) weight.
Let’s go to this recording directly. Eighth Tower Records are a label that often paid / pays tribute to the American fantasy, sci-fi and horror author Lovecraft; think about compilations like The Black Stone, In Tenebris Scriptus or Nyarlathotep, or the young project The Great Old Ones (which [FYI] actually is an outfit by label-owner Raffaele ‘Sonologyst’ Pezzella himself). The Necronomicon Pages gathers eleven artists that contribute with their own song-of-tribute to this book of necros-nomos-eikon, the concretization of death’s laws. The result was mastered by Raffaele, and it comes with intriguing cover-artwork by Mr.Zarono, who also worked for The Great Old Ones’ recent releases.
And now, the aural side behind The Necronomicon Pages… As said, eleven projects contributed this time; some being befriended with Eighth Tower Records (or the Unexplained Sounds Group family in general). Again, I will not go too deep into each project’s biography or discography, for it would bring us too far. Yet it isn’t but fair to have at least a kind word on each composition that makes part of this great Lovecraft tribute.
- The Khronos Deathcult: The Pandemonic Aeon (03:35): this Greek outfit comes up with a deeply importunate piece; despite it’s limited length, this ‘track’ offers a bleak vision through simplistic (which is not, in this case, some repudiated thing at all!), distant synths-manipulation, additional field recordings and eerie industrialization, including hints of eerie whispers and gloomy waves of sound…
- Plamen Večnosti: The Blood Goddess Of The Sun (05:46): like a devastating fire, slowly burning, yet unstoppably crawling forth, this Serbian act surprises with a contemplated hymn, mingling aspects from shamanistic esotery with darkened ambience. Deep-throated and whispering voices, ritualistic drum patterns and multiple intoxicating synth-lines are woven into a mesmerizing sonic journey through permanently unlit realms of oblivion…
- Caldon Glover: Ritual Of The Winter Tide (06:00) [a project that surprised me more than once before with truly stunning releases via e.g. Cyclic Law or Cryo Chamber]: a mixture of dark-ceremonial ambience, suffocating drones, a cinematic nature, and additional field-recorded elements are gathered unto an asphyxiating and deeply-horrific sonic nightmare…
- Nubiferous: Aga Mass Ssaratu (06:41): obscured ritual instruments, like tribal yet hypnotic-repetitive drum-patters, shamanistic key-harmonies and psychedelic sound-effects, initially resurrect one’s subconsciousness; yet after a (short) while, this Russian project (dwelling on a pure foundation within the Black Mara community) implements elements from both that ritualistic core within an all-covering veil of gruesome ambience, still led by eldritch waves of ‘melody’ and archaic yet energetic percussion-rhythms
- Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse: Black Sky, Drowned World (06:04): a quite productive entity from American soil; this hymn stands for quite an esoteric soundscape, like a Winter Synth symphony injected with hints of industro-apocalyptic oppression; despite its length, the asphyxiating character continuously supports the listener’s attention…
- Infinexhuma: Qn Rsh Kpri (05:01): a tribal chant, a trans-psychedelic aural travel through dimensions of physical, alchemical and spiritual essence; ritual percussions, transcendental voices, esoteric instrumentation and even psychotropic industrialized noise; a whole scala of spiritual / inherent / emotional enchantment getting canalized through five minutes of intoxicating hypnosia…
- Mario Lino Stancati: Book Of Shadows (06:03): with this piece, Mario (a long-time collaborator) offers a psychedelic, post-astral and hallucinatory piece of Psych / Kraut / Cinematic Ambient grandeur; eerie sound-waves, spacy samples and frenzy noisescapes are canalized into one twisted and disturbing aural experience…
- Mombi Yuleman: The Madness Of Alhazred (05:21): this influential artist comes up with a piece of deep trancelike progression, for mixing hallucinatory soundwaves with spoken word samples, cosmic sound-waves, energetic IDM-like beats, some subtle industrial injections, mesmerizing floating harmonies, and subtle horrific drones…
- Adonai Atrophia: The Liquid Omen Of Kamoq (05:58): with this piece, the Bulgarian outfit Adonai Atrophia fades back toward -or into- spheres of psychoid translucency, while mixing schizoid ‘melodies’ with ghastly sounds and spacy effects, canalizing the whole into a frenzy, yet then again introvert-minded, sonoric float of post-mental sanity…
- Occult Odyssey: Fhtagn-Cthulhu (06:56): the heresy of Lovecraft’s archaic creatures, the essence of this writer’s unearthly entities, gets perfectly translated through the ominous, minimalistic / minimalizing, and air-suffocating waves-of-darkened-ambience by this Mexican formation; chilly synth-waves, ominous voices (mainly whispered, often nefarious too) and an all-covering nebula of impenetrable light, that’s the written definition behind this gloomy act of Fhtagnic dreaming; ritualistic soundwaves and invocative voices as a source of invocative power…
- Nam-Khar: Against The Light (05:08): this (fabulous) German project contributes with a translucent, pan-ritualistic pseudo-symphony - an orchestration of mesmeric drones, tribal injections, industrial textures, psychedelic fragmentation and martial bombast; it results in a future-apocalyptic body – an unphysical body for sure – that exceeds mankind’s insight and comprehension…
The digital edition is available via the label’s Bandcamp-page, evidently. But those who seek for a physical copy, well, this might be interesting. There’s a compact-disc version, being a six-panel digipack, including liner-notes about Lovecraft, Alhazred and the Necronomicon-origins. Interesting material to get through! But there’s more: a package that includes that compact-disc and a wonderful book, illustrated by Mr.Zarono and with stories by some authors that are deeply inspired by Lovecraft. It comes in English and consists of no less than 390 pages! And then, also, there’s that huge package, which includes several books, two CDs and a tape - but I recommend to check this out on the Bandcamp-page (ling included below)…
https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-necronomicon-pages
https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/lovecraftiana
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/great-old-ones-it
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/great-old-ones-it-0