The Inevitable COVID-19 Musings

Talking the deep politics of the coronavirus with John Brisson of We've Read the Documents. Check it out:

For those of you looking to avoid the whole COVID-19 thing, checkout the latest installment in Frank Zero's Saturday Morning Vision Quest:

And maybe the great Paul Weston and I discussing Crowley and the Aeon of Horus:

That's about as light as it gets on my end, anyway. As always, I hope you guys enjoy. Sorry for the lack updates, but expect some big announcements in the next couple of days. Until then, stay tuned dear readers.

A Sniper in Dallas

Over the last few days the headlines read like something out of a synchro-mystical nightmare. The week began with two more questionable shootings of African-American men (Alton Sterling and Philando Castile) by US police officers under highly dubious circumstances. And then there was Thursday night's main event in which a US Army veteran rained sniper fire down on Dallas police, allegedly as a result of a desire to kill police officers and "white people."

Obviously, there are more than a few parallels to the Kennedy assassination, and in fact the shooting took place mere blocks from Dealey Plaza. Thus, a lot of the twilight language associated with the Kennedy assassination is potentially applicable here. What's more, the shooting took place on 7/7, the date of Britain's most notorious alleged Islamic terror attack. As Loren Coleman noted on his blog, there are also curious overlaps between the life and death of the nation's most recent sniper and Mark Essex, a former African-American Navy man who murdered several police officers in New Orleans with a high powered rifle in 1972.

There is also a deep political implication behind this event as well. The shooting unfolded in the midst of a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest. The BLM movement has received much of its financial support from George Soros's Open Society Foundations (OSF). OSF and other Soros foundations have been linked for nearly fifteen years now to a host of "bloodless" "color revolutions", mostly in Eastern Europe:

"... the so-called Orange Revolution which had taken place in Kiev, in the Ukraine, in the late fall and early winter 2004. The Orange Revolution, as informed observers knew very well, had been the result of a cynical destabilization of Ukraine by US and British intelligence --especially by the National Endowment for Democracy, the various Soros foundations, Gene Sharp's Albert Einstein Institute, and other entities that we may refer to for the sake of brevity and clarity as the privatized or quasi-government left wing of the US intelligence community or left CIA in the post-1982 era of President Reagan's Executive Order 12333.

 "The 2004 Orange Revolution was not a unique event, but had been preceded by similar exercises in destabilization and subversion, especially in the former Warsaw Pact and Soviet spaces. These have included the successful so-called Bulldozer Revolution in Belgrade, Serbia in 2000 and the Roses revolution in Tiflis, Georgia in 2003. There had been an attempt at a Cedars Revolution in Lebanon in 2006, but it had been blocked by the organized mass mobilization capacity of Hezbollah. Another attempted coup in Belarus in 2001 had also been defeated by that nation's government."

(Obama: The Postmodern Coup, Webster Griffin Tarpley, pg. 13) 

George Soros, who has also provided a lot of the funding for the modern cannabis and entheogen movements

The coups have not always been bloodless, however. The Open Society Foundations' recent activities in the Ukraine have contributed to the civil war that has destabilized the former Soviet Bloc nation since 2014.

Thus, the appearance of a Soros' funded "mass movement" at an event of this magnitude should always give one pause. Even more curious is the time spent by the shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, in the US Army. Johnson had apparently been considering a career in the Army prior to graduating from high school. Raw Story reports:

"Johnson graduated in 2009 from John Horn High School in Mesquite, where he participated in JROTC, the high school officer training program, according to the school district. Family photographs on Facebook show him posing in a red mortarboard. 

"He joined the Army Reserve the same year he completed high school, serving with the 420th engineering brigade. His jobs included a stint at Jimmy John's in Richardson. Chris Jennings, who owns the sandwich shop, said in an email that Johnson went to work there in 2011 and 'departed of his own accord in 2012.' 

"The following year, he was deployed to Afghanistan for 12 months. Several soldiers who served with him told The Dallas Morning News that they had been ordered not to discuss him.

"One family friend said Johnson had changed when he returned from overseas.... 

"At some point, Johnson appears to have worked at General Dynamics, a defense company with offices in Richardson. A woman who answered the phone there Friday said he had been an employee. People at the business said employees had been told not to talk to the media. A spokeswoman for the parent company would not confirm or deny his employment.

"Pentagon records do not reveal the reason for Johnson's Army discharge in April 2015. But a military lawyer who represented him said Johnson had been accused of sexually harassing a female soldier and had to leave the service. Bradford Glendening, a military attorney who practices near Fort Hood, said that the Army sent Johnson home from Afghanistan, which was unusual. Discipline for sexual harassment is typically counseling, he said...

"The woman asked that Johnson receive 'mental help' and asked for a protective order for herself and her family, Glendening said, adding that he wasn't sure which type of discharge Johnson ultimately received.

"Johnson's passionate interest in the black power movement began to manifest itself on his Facebook page this year. On April 30, he changed his profile picture to a shot of him with Professor Griff, a member of the hip-hop group Public Enemy known for calling out police brutality."

Micah Xavier Johnson circa 2009

Here's some more from MSNBC about the incident that got Johnson drummed out of the Army:

"For six years starting in 2009, Johnson served in the Army Reserve as a private first class with a specialty in carpentry and masonry, the military said.

"In May 2014, six months into his Afghanistan tour, he was accused of sexual harassment by a female soldier. The Army sent him stateside, recommending an 'other than honorable discharge,' said Bradford Glendening, the military lawyer who represented him. 

"That recommendation was 'highly unusual,' Bradford said, since counseling is usually ordered before more drastic steps are taken...

"According to a court filing Glendening read over the phone Friday, the victim said she wanted Johnson to 'receive mental help,' while also seeking a protective order to keep him away from her and her family, wherever they went. Johnson was ordered to avoid all contact with her.

"Glendening said Johnson was set to be removed from the Army in September 2014 because of the incident, but instead got an honorable discharge months later — for reasons he can't understand.

" 'Someone really screwed up,' he said. "But to my client's benefit.' "

So, to recap: Johnson appears to have been a fairly normal individual with a longstanding dream of being in the Army. He enlists and is in the Reserve for six years. In 2013, he is sent to Afghanistan. He has some type of breakdown there that appears to involve a female soldier. The Army apparently has great concern about his conduct and mental stability, yet they end of granting him an honorable discharge and seemingly take no real legal actions against him.

A little over a year after he has been honorably discharged, he develops an interest in militant black power groups. And then, several months later, he launches an attack on Dallas police that has been described as "well-planned" and "well thought out." He is then killed by Dallas police via a robot/drone, leaving no opportunity to question him and certainly not for a trial (to say nothing of creating a disturbing precedent). And of course, there were the inevitable initial reports that Johnson was not acting alone, since changed to the familiar "lone wolf" narrative.

Bizarrely, another African-American Army veteran was accused of opening fire on passing cars on a highway in Tennessee hours before the Dallas incident. He also alleged that he had been triggered by recent police killings of people of color.

Lakeem Keon Scott, the Tennessee shooter

These are strange times indeed. It seems likely that these events have some ulterior purpose, but it is to early discern. Many will pick up on the Open Society Foundations/Soros link to the BLM movement and reduce to this to a domestic operation by the "liberal CIA" faction. But this researcher believes the possibility exists that BLM and their backers are being set up by some other force, one that sees the mounting opposition to the police state as a direct threat to the national security apparatus.

But only time will tell. Until then, stay tuned and be safe in these interesting times.

Top 13 of 15

And so the time has arrived for another year end review of the top 13 albums released, this time for that Foal Year of Our Lords 2015. This once-a-year series was inspired by the persistent claims that rock and pop culture on the whole are dead and has now run for three years. Ideally this installment would have been out several weeks earlier but the transition between 2015 and 2016 has been a rough one for music: 2015 ended with the death of one rock 'n roll legend while 2016 began with the death of another. I am of course referring to Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and David Bowie respectively. The Motorhead frontman and Starman were both larger than life personas that seemed indestructible. Their influence was vast and their loss is irreplaceable.

the dearly departed Lemmy (top) and David Bowie (bottom)

The departures of Lemmy and Bowie only underscore how dire things have gotten out there. There can be little doubt that mainstream music in 2015 was a truly putrid corpse emitting a rotten stench that threatens to obscure any signs of life beneath the surface. But then again, mainstream music has typically been awful with few acceptations (i.e. the late 80s/early 90s "alternative scene" and the First Psychedelic Era and Golden Age of Heavy Rock, two overlapping periods that unfolded from roughly 1966 till 1974). In the underground, as always, there are a few flickering signs of life.

This series as well as the bulk of this blog's musings on music were largely inspired by Christopher Knowles' groundbreaking The Secret History of Rock N' Roll and his numerous writings on the Secret Sun blog. Knowles properly linked the rock n' roll spirit to the Ancient Mysteries and the Archetypes in a effort to explain the medium's power. Knowles, however, takes a much dimer view of the current music scene than I.

As noted above, it is hard to dispute that rock n' roll is in dire straits and that the socio-economic order that fueled the heyday of rock n' roll is gone. But uncertainty and chaos have often produced choice works of art and our current era is certainly overflowing with either. For this reason it was of little surprise to your author that several doom metal-centric bands generated especially inspired outings this year while the retro heavy rock movement, finding inspiration in the Golden Age of Rock 'N Roll, continues to go strong. It probably goes without saying, but the genre typically described as "stoner rock" (which can include doom, sludge and post-metal, desert rock, fuzz rock, heavy psych, occult rock and so on) continues to be at the forefront of rock n' roll relevancy.

Indeed, stoner rock arguably had one of its best years in terms of media exposure due to the tragedy in Paris. The Eagles of Death Metal, with their extensive ties to the Palm Desert scene, are very much in the stoner rock family and were the band performing in the Bataclan during one of the most shocking moments of the Paris terror attacks. That stoner rock, steeped in the occult, conspiracy theories and general high weirdness, has gradually found its way into the mainstream consciousness despite the contempt "serious" music fans have long had for it is hardly surprising. Perhaps no other genre today understands the archetypal appeal of classic rock better while offering up a fresh take on the first principals of the medium. I've written extensively on these themes before here.

But enough introductory remarks. Let us get on with the rankings:

13

Berlin --Kadavar

Kadavar are deeply steeped in retro heavy rock that could make the casual listener easily confuse their 2015 outing for something that was released forty years ago. This German outfit first caught your humble writer's ear back in 2012 with their haunting self-titled debut. That album had a dark and mysterious quality to it that the band's preceding two albums have been unable to match. That being said, 2013's Abra Kadavar (which made my top 13 in 2013) and 2015's Berlin kick out the heavy '70s jams as well as any act currently active. Songs  like "Old Man" and "Last Living Dinosaur" are so catchy and infectious that they rightfully should be played in heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations with the likes of Led Zeppelin II and Machine Head. And while the band's psychedelic side has been greatly marginalized since the debut, tracks like "Into the Night" and the cover of Nico's "Reich Der Traume" still manage to take the listener places.

12

Berkana --Golden Void

This Bay-area group also dropped their debut in 2012, and it was even more haunting that Kadavar's. Golden Void (who derive their name form a Hawkwind song) also have their fair share of retro influences (especially the great Blue Oyster Cult as well as the previously mentioned space rockers) but also bring in ample doses of 90s grunge (think Screaming Trees and more mellow Soundgarden) and European heavy psych along the lines of Colour Haze and Sungrazer. Their music maintains a mellow atmosphere even when guitarist Isiah Mitchell (also of instrumental heavy psych stalwarts Earthless) breaks out the fuzz.

The interplay between Mitchell's guitar and wife Camilia Saufley's keyboards is easily the most compelling aspect of this group. The duo weave a potent witch's brew of psychedelic bliss. The album derives its name from a rune and is unsurprisingly steeped in esoterica. Its center piece is easily the near-seven minute "Astral Plane", a track every bit as exploratory as the name implies. "Silent Season" and "Storm and Feather" are equally knee deep in atmosphere while punchier tracks such as "Dervishing" and "Burbank's Dream" display the band's ability to merge more rocking efforts with an equally hazy aesthetic.

11

Cobras and Fire --Monster Magnet

Many an astute listener had left Monster Magnet, the stoner rock pioneers, for dead around the time of 2007's 4-Way Diablo. The group took the heavy underground by storm in the 1990s with a series of groundbreaking albums that merged Lemmy-era Hawkwind with the more avant garde psychedelica of acid punk powerhouses such as the Butthole Surfers and Chrome. Beginning with 1995's Dopes to Infinity and especially 1998's commercial breakthrough Powertrip the group began to incorporate more classic heavy rock hooks and emerged at the forefront of the budding stoner rock movement by decade's end. But then things began to go south in the next decade. A series of lackluster albums and the ongoing substance abuse problems of frontman Dave Wyndorf left the band in such dire straits that New Jersey outfit did not seem long for this world after Diablo.

But then came a dramatic turnaround. 2013's Last Patrol (which finished high in that year's top 13) was easily the strongest album Monster Magnet had managed since their early 90s heyday and saw them returning to the frantic space rock and sleazy psychedelica that characterized their sound during their peak years. 2014 brought a "reimaging" of Last Patrol, aptly dubbed Milking the Stars. This album made my top 13 in 2014, though this ranking my have been mired by my inner fanboy still being so pleased with the group's return to their earlier sound. 2015's Cobras and Fires presents this reviewer with the same dilemma, but I feel its inclusion here will hold up better for the simple reason that Cobras and Fire represents a much more dramatic overhaul of an album that 2014's reimaging.

The target in this case is 2010's Mastermind, a somewhat overlooked album in MM's overture. While not nearly as strong as Patrol it was at the time a refreshing return to form that saw the group unleashing its heaviest outing to date. Short on psychedelica, but long on fuzz, Mastermind seems far better suited for a psychedelic reimaging than the already uber-trippy Patrol. And indeed, the lysergic remakes of tracks like the soaring "Gods and Punks" and the oh-so fuzzy "Hallucination Bomb" (here redubbed "Cobras and Fire") are truly reimagings. Elsewhere, "The Titan" and "Time Machine" are totally stripped of lyrics and turned into the kinds of synth driven instrumental tracks Rick Wakeman once churned out for metal bands in the 1970s to enhance the atmosphere between the punchier tracks. The same purpose is accomplished here. Throw in a stomping cover of the Temptation's psychedelic soul social commentary known as "Ball of Confusion" and you have one of the most enjoyable, if derivative, albums of 2015.

10

Scaffolds of the Sky --Mirror Queen 

Mirror Queen is another retro 70s act that manages to pay homage to rock's Golden Age without sounding derivative. Combing elements of Blue Oyster Cult, NWOBHM riffing and contemporary heavy psych, this New Jersey outfit knows how to set an atmosphere while still having enough heft to please the moshers. Scaffolds of the Sky is the group's sophomore outing after 2010's From Earth Below and shows ample growth. The albums two longest tracks, "Scaffolds of the Sky" and "Strangers in Our Time," are also the best and put the band's strengths on full display. Chugging guitars give way to hazy interludes and then back to the gallop, all on a dime and all feeling like totally natural changes. Sky wraps up with a solid cover of BOC's "Wings Wetted Down," a track preceded by the moody instrumental "Dark Ships Arrived." It makes a for an apt closing on this second album from a band that sounds as if it has yet to hit its peak. Where the group goes from now will be most intriguing, but there are still quite good at present all the same.

9

Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere --Acid King

Acid King derive their moniker from the nickname murderer Ricky Kasso, who so terrified the Christian right in the 1980s when he and two friends murdered a fourth boy while reportedly under the influence of mescaline. Kasso was arrested in an AC/DC shirt and was reportedly a fan of groups such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. This was one of the key incidents that dragged heavy metal subculture into the Satanic Hysteria of the 1980s.

Acid King the band hails from San Francisco, where they were founded in 1993 just as stoner rock was beginning to emerge as its own genre. Beyond being one of the pioneering stoner rock bands, Acid King is also fronted by guitarist and vocalist Lori S., the first woman to gain prominence in a genre that has produced increasing amounts of staller female performers over the years. AK's sound is deeply steeped in Black Sabbath as filtered through fellow North California heavy weights Sleep. Acid King slowed Sabbath's grooves down even further so as to explore the depths of Lori S' massive, sludgy riffs. Outside of Sleep, Acid King is the stoner doom band.

While possessing a sound innately druggy, Acid King did not delve much into pure psychedelica prior to the release of Middle of... this past year. The gargantuan riffs are still there threatening to blow your speakers out, but to them has been added additional sparseness as well as ample doses of psychedelica and space rock. The aptly named "Coming Down From Outer Space" perfectly captures the void of space while the title track is acid doom at its finest. The backwards guitars of the "Intro" and "Outro" instrumentals give the impression that Middle album is being beamed in from another dimension, a fitting origin for this collection of songs. Elsewhere "Silent Pictures" and "Red River" deliver the post-Sleep riffage long time fans crave. On the whole, this is a fine return to form from a band that has been away for to long.

8

Self-titled --Cigale

Cigale, despite unloading the best debut album of 2015, is a group stillborn. This is due to the sudden suicide of guitarist/backup vocalist Rutger Smeets, formerly of the great Sunglazer. Between his work with Sungrazer and Cigale Smeets had established himself as one of the most promising up-and-coming guitarist of the genre. His distinct tone and style bridged the gap between vintage 90s desert rock and the stylings of Colour Haze and other European heavy psych outfits that began to emerge during the past decade. Despite the heft underlining Smeets' guitars, they still maintained a bright, hazy tone that always threatens to throw the listener into a waking reverie.

After the sudden dissolution of Sungrazer in 2014 following their acclaimed Mirador album, Smeets bounced back with Cigale. Cigale followed in Sungrazer's merger of European heavy psych and the more trippier aspects of desert rock, but to it added elements of prog, shoegazing and even jazz. Lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Romy Endeman made for a perfect collaborator with Smeets. Her jazzy vocals brought elements of a torch song to practically every track. Highlights such as "Steeplechase" , "Grey Owl" and the folky "Eyes Wide Shut" pointed to endless possibilities for this outfit. Sadly, we will never no to what heights Cigale could have reached nor where Rutger Smeets' already impressive career would have ventured too. RIP.

7

Second Psychedelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes --Jess and the Ancient Ones

Jess and the Ancient Ones are another retro European occult act. Their self-titled debut dropped in 2013 and on the whole was a respectable if rather undisguisable outing. Their sophomore outing finds the band coming into their own, however. Jess and the Ancient Ones dial down the NWOBHM riffing of their debut while upping the prog and psychedelica and adding a pinch of jazz and even surf guitars for spectacular results. And of course there's still Jess conjuring the spirit of Grace Slick in her absolute prime.

Littered with samples from B-grade 60s and 70s films, Second Psychedelic Coming envisions a Summer of Love steeped in the occult and cults (which it kind of was). This creates a vibrant, almost (acid-laced) carnival-like atmosphere. Punchier numbers like "Wolves Inside My Head" and opener "Samhain" keep the hour plus album moving along at a brisk pace, but it is on the longer tracks that Jess and the Ancient Ones really shine. "Crossroad Lightening," with its stomping blues/gospel intro, descends into a mesmerizing Middle Eastern-vibe during its eight-plus minute run time. The 22:35 minute closer "Goodbye to Virgin Grounds Forever" is completely engrossing for the extent of its run time. It goes through various sections that encompass multiple style before concluding with almost gospel-like chants of "Death is not the end." Indeed.

6

Psychic Warfare --Clutch

Clutch has been a remarkably consistent band over the course of their twenty-plus year run. Only their debut, Transnational Speedway League, and the outtakes collection Jam Room have mired their otherwise pristine track record. But some Clutch records are better than others and 2013's Earth Rocker seems likely to join the ranks of 1995's self-titled sophomore outing, 1998's Elephant Riders and 2004's Blast Tyrant as the best of the best. Thus Psychic Warfare, coming out just a little under two years after Earth Rocker, was faced with a tough act to follow.

As can be expected, Psychic Warfare follows in the more rocking style Clutch pursued on Earth Rocker (though some of the blusier elements from Strange Cousins From the West and From Beale Street to Oblivion return). Indeed, the biggest knock on Psychic Warfare is that the batch of songs it contains aren't quite as good or as fresh as those on Rocker. Still, lesser bands would sell their souls many times over for tracks as catchy as "X-Ray Visions", "Firebirds" and the ZZ Top-ified "Quick Death in Texas." Moody and bluesy ballads "Our Lady Electric Light" and "Son of Virginia" are also quite striking.

Even more curious is the fact that this album marks Clutch's first full on concept album (allegedly) and that it revolves around a character trying to escape from mind control technology being wielded by shadowy government agencies (hence the title). As this is Clutch, all of this is handled very tongue-in-cheek and the concept seems to have been largely abandoned after the album's first half. Still, this is an interesting turn for a band that has dealt heavily with mythology, conspiracy theories and the occult before (as I've noted before here and here, among others). I may attempt a more in depth analysis of this album at a later date. For now the, the reader is advised to simply kick back and allow Clutch's unequaled boogie to take them places, some of which involving Firebirds and energy weapons.

5

Feral --Snail

Snail's journey has been a long and winding one. Founded back in 1992 in Seattle, the group released its self-titled debut in 1993 as a three piece consisting of guitarist/vocalist Mark Johnson, bassist Matt Lynch, and drummer Marty Dodson. An EP followed the next year and that would be the last anyone would hear of the group in the twentieth century. Then in 2009, a whopping sixteen years after the debut, Snail resurfaced with their sophomore outing Blood. The album featured all three original members plus a second guitarist, Eric Clausen. It caught the heavy underground by surprise with its compelling blind of doom, stoner rock and grunge.

With their first ever true following (Snail had been one of countless Seattle bands vying for national attention in the early 90s and thus flew under virtually everyone's radar) established in the wake of that album, the four piece returned in 2012 with Terminus. This album brought more 80s metalisms into the mix, but without the strong songwriting of Blood.

When Snail returned in 2015 with Feral, they were once again a three piece, Clausen having departed shortly before work on Feral began. This listener went into Feral with low expectations --while Snail's story is certainly inspiring and Blood had shown promise, the group had yet to drop something truly memorable. But after twenty-two years and three albums, Snail has truly arrived with this latest offering.

While groups like Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees may have originally been the template, Snail had already added doomier elements and on this album also incorporate more prog, and heavy psych. And despite the loss of guitarist Eric Clausen, the album sounds fuller and more complex than prior outings. This is in no small part due to the rhythm section picking up the slack. Both Dodson and Lynch contribute backing vocals while Lynch also adds keyboards and served as Feral's recording engineer.

Opener "Building a Haunted House," with its druggy build up, sets the mood."... House" is followed by the surprisingly catchy and up-tempo "Smoke the Deathless" and its amusing references to DMT. Longer tracks like "Thou Art That" and "Psilocybe" combine grunge, doom and heavy psych in moody dirges that are sure to take the listener places.

On the whole Feral is one of the most surprising releases of the year in that it finds a veteran act both expanding their sound and releasing easily their best work to date, and on which a quantum leap in songwriting quality is evident. And that art work... Highly recommended.

4

Sun Future Moon --Death Hawks

Death Hawks are a Finnish outfit who released their third outing, Sun Future Moon, in 2015. Despite the four piece's name, they offer some of the most blissful and relaxed music on this list. Combing elements of psychedelia, prog, space rock, folk, world, and desert rock, Death Hawks have a sound that is both retro and totally modern at the same time. Opener "Hey Ya Sun Ra" is the albums longest track and unfolds like a lazy summer afternoon with its rolling grooves and blissful chants. "Ripe Fruits" and "Behind Thyme" continue in the same sunny vein.

Else where tracks like "Dream Machine" and the near spoken-word "Dream Life, Waking Life" go for more of a nighttime atmosphere. In a sense these tracks are "darker", but "darker" as in exploring the wonders of deep space, be it outer or inner. The space-folk of closer "Friend of Joy", with its chants of "Send our message across the universe" is an apt conclusion to this dreamy record with one foot in the past and one in the space age.

3

Lore --Elder

Elder's prior outing, 2011's Dead Roots Stirring, caught the heavy underground by storm during that year and became one of the most celebrated releases of this decade. This listener took a while to warm up to the Boston three piece's moody sophomore outing and still does not quite agree with the endless praise heaped upon it. Lore arrived in 2015 amongst sky high expectations and seemingly delivered: Countless websites have already declared it a modern classic. While this reviewer would not go quite that far, he can not deny what the band has accomplished here. 

Consisting of five tracks that unfold over the course of an hour plus, Lore clearly is not lacking in ambition. But Elder are more than up to the task of justifying song lengths that regularly go beyond ten minutes. The band originally began as a stoner doom outfit inspired by Sleep and Electric Wizard. With Dead Roots Stirring they began incorporating elements of heavy psych into their sound. Those elements are further refined here along with ample doses of prog and space rock for good measure. 

While each track is practically a mini epic in its own right, Lore is best taken as whole. The five songs maintain a consistent atmosphere throughout that is dark without being menacing. "Mysterious" is possibly the best word for describing these five compositions. They inspire mental pictures of moon lit nights, rain-soaked early mornings and the deepest reaches of space. The Old Ones lurk within these tracks, with Elder seemingly obsessed with bringing ancient mythology to a modern light. Whether Lovecraftian or esoteric, when the album stops the listener can't help but feel they have returned from some type of curious dream, partly frightening and partly blissful in equal measures. This is truly an album to lose one's self in.

2

Pylon --Killing Joke

The legendary post-punk outfit returned with their fifteenth study album in 2015. It was the third album since 2009's Absolute Dissent to feature the group's original lineup, vocalist Jaz Coleman, guitarist Geordie Walker, bassist Youth and drummer Paul Ferguson. Previously this lineup had produced the band's original trio of albums, the self-titled debut, What's THIS For... and Revelations. After this trilogy of post-punk classics, Youth departed and beginning with the fifth album, 1985's Night Time, Killing Joke pursued a more New Wave-centric sound. While this initially brought the group more commercial success, Killing Joke had come dangerously close to being a parody of their former selves by the late 1980s.

Beginning with 1990's Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions, the group returned with a much heavier, more industrial metal-oriented sound which reflected the legions of heavy rock bands the group had influenced in the 1980s. This sound was refined and perfected on 1994's Pandemonium and 1996's grossly underrated Democracy. The Jokers did not return again until 2003 with another self-titled album, this one both an angry political bomb reflecting the Bush years as well as a subtle bid to cash in on the group's vast influence (witness the nu-metal riffs and the presence of David Grohl on drums). 2006's Hosannas from the Basement of Hell was a much better and more ambitious offering in addition to being arguably the group's heaviest ever outing.

When the original lineup returned with 2009's Absolute Dissent, much of the heavier edge of the post-Extremities albums was retained, but some elements of the group's classic post-punk and even New Wave sound was also incorporated, bringing things full circle. This led to a pair of albums (Absolute Dissent and 2012's MMXII) that were more musically diverse than anything the group had done since the 1990s as well as featuring some of the Jokerss best ever songwriting. MMXII, which ran the gauntlet from raging rockers such as "Fema Camp" to the moody ballad like "In Cythera", was an especially strong outing that could easily revival some of the group's classic 80s and 90s albums.

Thus Pylon had a very hard act to follow and it does stumble somewhat. Part of this is due to the production, which seems just a little to clean to this listener's ear. While the prior three albums had a delightfully raw edge to them, Pylon is easily the group's sleekest offering since the 2003 comeback. Of course, "sleek" in relation to Killing Joke is very relative, but I can't help but feel some of these songs are missing a bit of nastiness to them. And it doesn't help that the group could write tracks like "New Cold War" in their sleep by this point.

"Autonomous Zone" immediately draws the listener in with its thunderous rhythm section and buzzing guitars and keyboards though some of the following tracks can't quite maintain the exuberant beginning. Moody offerings such as the very 80s "Euphoria" and "Big Buzz" feature some of the album's most potent moments but it is the surprisingly catchy "New Jerusalem" that is the album's center piece. Riding a killer groove, Jaz Coleman outlines society's ills over the verse until a furious tribal assault from drummer Paul Ferguson propels the chorus into overdrive.

So while Pylon can't quite reach the heights of the prior two albums, it is still a strong offering from a veteran band nearly four decades into their run. But when all is said and done, the freshness of the original lineup playing together again is gone. While Absolute Dissent and MMXII found the band toying with the various sounds they had explored over the years to forge a new sonic identity that brought together everything that had come before, Pylon seems like a recap of the prior two albums. This could have been an issue had the songwriting not been so strong, but fortunately the band delivers in this department and that is enough to make this one of the best albums of 2015.

1

Ecate --Ufomammut

The phrase "cosmic doom" was invented specifically for acts like Italy's Ufomammut. Combing elements of the psychedelic spaciness of early Pink Floyd and Hawkwind with the massive, hypnotic riffs of stoner doom bands like Sleep and Electric Wizard, the three piece has carved out one of the most distinct sounds of any group in the twenty-first century. They first hit their stride with 2004's landmark Snailking and took things to new heights with 2010's Eve. Apparently inspired by Pink Floyd's 1971 classic Meddle, Eve was essentially one long, forty-plus minute song broken into five movements.

At this point in time Ufomammut's potent brew of trippy synths and psychedelic effects galore with mysterious samples, mixed-back and unintelligible vocals and skull rattling riffs achieved a state of high art. As ambitious as ever, the group returned in 2012 with a pair of albums: ORO: Opus Primum and ORO: Opus Alter. As the ORO bit implies, these two works were linked: Each album consisted of half of one massive song. While many long time fans were impressed by the scale of the group's compositions, this listener felt that both of the ORO albums were ponderous (and even pompous at times).

Perhaps realizing that they had pushed the envelope as far as they could with extended song, Ufomammut returned in 2015 with Ecate, their tightest collection of individual compositions since 2008's Idiom. All Ufomammut works are steeped in the occult and Ecate is no different. The title is short for Hecate, the notorious Greek witch goddess, while the album's artwork is littered with mystical symbols (the individual portraits assigned to each song are especially illuminating). Unsurprisingly, themes of death, rebirth and transcendence abound. 

There are six songs in total, with each half of the album divided into two long songs intersected by a shorter track. The first of these shorter tracks, "Plouton" is possibly the most brutal song on the album while "Revelations" is the most atmospheric. The longer tracks are easily the highlights of Ecate, however. Opener "Somnium" rides a crushing groove for several minutes before downshifting into a reflective midsection before exploding into the conclusion. "Chaosecret" begins with a spacey atmosphere that incorporates distant vocals into the mix for nearly six minutes before unleashing a riff that could destroy planets. Closer "Daemons" is relentless throughout while still maintaining Ufomammut's trademark trippiness. 

On the whole Ecate marks a stellar return to first principals for the Italian trio even if it sacrifices some artistic growth in the process. Still, countless bands would kill for an album as distinct as this one. Highly recommended.

Ufomammut live

And with that I bring the top 13 of 2015 to a close. Honorable mentions also go out to Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats' Night Creeper, Ecstatic Vision's Sonic Praise, Death Alley's Black Magic Boogieland, Mondo Drag's self-titled sophomore outing, Dungen's Allas Sak, Midnight Ghost Train's Cold Was the Ground, Fogg's High Testament, Kind's Rocket Science, Goatsnake's Black Age Blues and All Them Witches' Dying Surfer Meets His Maker. That's twenty-three albums in total for 2015 of some quality. Hopefully the reader has found something of interest in anyone of these albums that will alleviate some of the doldrums of modern pop culture. Until next time dear reader.

your humble reviewer was all set to catch Killing Joke's North American tour on January 15th, but the band canceled the tour days before it was set to kick off due to health problems for one group member; so it goes for what is looking like an ominous year for musical legends 

Legends of Assassins Part III

Welcome to the third installment in my examination the infamous Nizari, an Ismaili sect more commonly referred to as the Assassins or Hashshashins. With the first part of this series I gave a brief run down of the history of the Ismaili branch of Shiaism with a special emphasis on their rule during the legendary Fatimid Caliphate. The second installment began to examine the Nizari in earnest with an account of the legendary dai and founder of the Assassin order, Hasan-i Sabbah.

As was noted there, many of the more sensational accounts of Hasan had little to no basis in reality. By all accounts, he was a brilliant tactician and scholar who lived a pious life that inspired the sect he founded. While possessing a esoteric doctrine, credible evidence of widespread libertinism amongst the Assassins during Hasan's era is none existent. The same can not be said for some of his successors, however.

Hasan-i Sabbah

But before getting to that, let us first consider Hasan-i's two most immediate successors who largely stayed the course. The first was one of Hasan-i's generals, Kiya Buzurgumid.

"Buzurgumid was one of Hasan's most trusted general; he had commanded the castle of Lammassar, the second most important Assassin fortress, for over two decades. During the last months of his fatal illness, Hasan summoned Buzurgumid to Alamut and appointed him his successor. Hassan is said to have whispered to Buzurgumid that as long as he remained worthy, Hasan's spirit would console him. Buzurgumid inherited the large Nizari Persian territories, composed of three regional centers some fifteen hundred miles apart: the first at Alamut; the second to the southeast in Girdkuh; the third in Quhistan farther to the southeast in central Persia. The fledgling Syrian branch of the Nizaris was also under his command. Confounding the expectations of his enemies, Buzurgumid was an able administrator and a courageous leader...

"The political and religious isolation of the Nizari community made their continual survival and expansion all the more unexpected. Under Buzurgumid's leadership, Alamut even operated its own mint. Buzurgumid remained a powerful force with which to be reckoned by both Sunni and Shiite powers, and he expanded the Nizari state to its ultimate territorial limits."

(The Assassins and the Templars, James Wasserman, pgs. 113-115) 

a portion of the Nizari state, i.e their castle strongholds

Buzurgumid's successor did not fare remotely as well.

"Just days before his death, Buzurgumid passed the leadership to his son Muhammad, a conservative man whose ascension to power indicated a new phase for the Nizari state. For one thing, the succession to the Master of Alamut would henceforth be passed from father to son. For another, Muhammad's overall ambition for expansion was limited. His military activity, for example, was considerably more provincial than his father's. Fourteen assassinations were recorded during his twenty-four year reign, most taking place during his first five years. No significant military operations were undertaken outside the region of Alamut and the other established Nizari centers, although some of his local campaigns were quite aggressive...

"An increasing number of Nizaris at Alamut began to feel frustrated that the fire had gone out of their movement. The limit of Muhammad's quest for territorial expansion seemed to be his mission to Afghanistan. To many it seemed that the grand vision of world conquest and domination had become trivialized into local raids and cattle theft. A nostalgia for the spiritual frenzy that had animated the community in earlier times became pronounced. People were impatient for the promised appearance of the long-awaited Imam."

(The Assassins and the Templars, James Wasserman, pgs. 115-116)

Alamut

It was Muhammad I's son who likely inspired the notorious reputation of the Nizari more than any other Lord of Alamut. Even prior to his accession as the Lord of Alamut he had inspired a devoted following amongst the Nizari. This caused his own father, Muhammad I, many sleepless nights.

"Among them there was still some who harked back to the glorious days of Hasan-i Sabbah – to the dedication and adventure of his early struggles, and the religious faith that inspired them. They found a leader in Hasan, the son and heir apparent of the Lord of Alamut, Muhammad. His interest began early. 'When he had nearly approached the age of discretion he conceived the desire to study and examine the teachings of Hasan-i Sabbah and his own forefathers; and... he came to excel in the exposition of their creed... With... the eloquence of his words he won over the greater part of the people. Now his father being altogether lacking in that art, his son.... appeared a greater scholar beside him, and therefore... the vulgar sought to follow his lead. And not having heard the like discourses from his father they began to think that he was the Imam that had been promised by Hasan-i Sabbah. The people's attachment to him increased and they made haste to follow him as their leader.'

"Muhammad did not like this at all. A conservative in his Ismailism, 'he was rigid in his observance of the principles laid down by his father and Hasan[-i Sabbah] with regard to the conduct of propaganda on behalf of the Imam and the outward observance of Muslim practices; and he considered his son's behavior to be inconsistent with those principles. He therefore denounced roundly and having assembled the people spoke as follows: "This Hasan is my son, and I am not the Imam but one of his da'is. Whoever listens to these words and believes them is an infidel and atheist." And on these grounds he punished some who had believed in his son's Imamate with all manner of torturers and torments, and on one occasion put 250 persons to death on Alamut and then binding their corpses on the backs of 250 others condemned on the same charge he expelled these latter from the castle. And in this way they were discouraged and suppressed.' Hasan bided his time, and managed to dispel his father's suspicions. On Muhammad's death in 1162 he succeeded him without opposition. He was then about 35 years old."

(The Assassins, Bernard Lewis, pgs. 70-71)

Initially Hasan II's rule was largely uneventful. But two and a half years into his reign a truly curious ceremony was held that forever changed the Nizari community.

"Ismaili accounts of what happened are preserved in the later literature of the sect and also, in somewhat modified form, in the Persian chronicles written after the fall of Alamut. They tell a curious tell. On the 17th day of the month of Ramadan, of the year 559 [8 August 1164], under the ascendancy of Virgo and when the sun was in Cancer, Hasan ordered the erection of a pulpit in the courtyard of Alamut, facing towards the west, with four great banners of four colours, white, red, yellow, and green, at the four corners. The people from the different regions, whom he had previously summoned to Alamut, were assembled in the courtyard – those from the East on the right side, those from the West on the left side, and those from the North, from Rudbar and Daylam, in front, facing the pulpit. As the pulpit faced west the congregants had their backs towards Mecca. 'Then,' says an Ismaili tract, 'towards noon, the Lord [Hasan], on his mention be peace, wearing a white garment and white turban, came down from the castle, approached the pulpit from the right side, and in the most perfect manner ascended it. Three times he uttered greetings, first to the Daylamis, then to those on the right, then to those on the left. In a moment he sat down, and then rose up again and, holding his sword, spoke in a loud voice.' Addressing himself to 'the inhabitants of the worlds, jinn, men, and angels,' he announced that a message had come to him from the hidden Imam, with new guidance. 'The Imam of our time has sent you his blessing and his compassion, and has called you his special chosen servants. He has freed you from the burden of the rules of Holy Law, and has brought you to the Resurrection.' In addition, the Imam named Hasan, the son of Muhammad, the son of Buzurgumid, as 'our vicar, da'i and proof. Our party must obey and follow him both in religious and worldly matters, recognize his commands as binding, and know that his word is our word.' When he had completed his address, Hasan stepped down from the pulpit, and performed two prostrations of the festival prayer. Then, a table having being laid, he invited them to break their fast , join in a banquet, and make merry. Messengers were sent to carry the glad tidings to the east and west. In Quhistan, the chief of the fortress of Mu'minabad repeated the ceremony of Alamut, and proclaimed himself as the vicar of Hasan, from a public facing the wrong way; 'And that day on which these ignominies were divulged and these evils proclaimed in the nest of heretics, Mu'minabad, that assembly played harp and rebeck and openly drank wine upon the various steps of the pulpit and within its precincts. In Syria too the word was received, and the faithful celebrated the end of the law."

(The Assassins, Bernard Lewis, pgs. 72-73)

Hasan II's proclamations curiously addressed djinns among other beings

Hasan II's proclamation, widely accepted by the bulk of the Nizaris, profoundly effected the ideology of the movement. In latter years Hasan II was credited as a biological descendant of the line of Ali and thus the Imam (which in Shiaism, as noted in part one, shares some overlap with the concepts of"Hidden Masters" and "Secret Chiefs" in the occult) but in Hasan II's time this seemingly had a more esoteric meaning. And that is if he in fact ever claimed to be the Imam.

"The new dispensation brought an important change in the status of the Lord of Alamut. In the sermon in the castle courtyard, he declared to be the vicar of the Imam and the Living Proof; as the bringer of the Resurrection (qiyama), he is the Qa'im, a dominating figure in Ismaili eschatology. According to Rashid al-Din, after his public manifestation Hasan circulated writings in which he said that, while outwardly he was known as the grandson of Buzurgumid, in the esoteric reality he was the Imam of the time, and the son of the previous Imam, of the line of Nizar. It is possible that, as some have argued,  Hasan was not claiming physical descent from Nizar, which in the age of the Resurrection had ceased to signify, but a kind of spiritual filiation. There are indeed precedents in early Islamic messianic movements of such claims to spiritual or adoptive descent from the house of Prophet..."

(The Assassins, Bernard Lewis, pg. 74)

Here's a bit more on the metaphysical significance of the "spiritual Imam":

"When Hasan II proclaimed the Great Resurrection, which marks the end of Time, he lifted the veil of Concealment and abrogated the religious Law. He offered communal as well as individual participates in the mystic's great adventure, perfect freedom.

"...  he acted on behalf of the Imam, and did not claim to be the Imam himself. (In fact he took the title of Caliph or 'representative'.) But as the family of Ali is the same as perfect consciousness, then perfect consciousness is the same as the family of Ali. The realized mystic 'becomes' a descendant of Ali (like the Persian Salman, whom Ali adopted by covering him with his cloak, and who is much revered by the sufis, Shiites and Ismailis alike). In reality, in haqiqah, Hasan II was the Imam because, in the Ismaili phrase, he had realize the 'Imam-of-his-own-being.' The Qiyamat was thus an invitation to each of his followers to do the same, or at least to participate in the pleasures of paradise on earth.

"The legend of the paradisal garden at Alamut where the houris, cupbears, wine and hashish of paradise were enjoyed by the Assassins in the flesh, may stem from a folk memory of the Qiyamat. Or it may even be literally true. For the realized consciousness this world is no other than paradise, and it's bliss and pleasures are all permitted. The Koran describes paradise as a garden. How logical then for wealthy Alamut to become outwardly the reflection of the spiritual state of the Qiyamat."

(Scandal, Peter Lamborn Wilson, pg. 40) 

The Prince of Persia provides the mythological perception of Alamut; was this perception never meant to be a reality, biut a state of being?

On the whole these proclamations were well received, but hardline dissidents would ensure that Hasan II's reign was short lived. But the genie was already out of the proverbial bottle and Hasan II's "heresies" would live on well past his expiration date. But for the survival of the Nizari community, they were greatly modified with an emphasis on a literal, exoteric interpretation of Hasan II's proclamation by his successors.

"In 1166 Hasan II was murdered after only four years of rule. His enemies were perhaps in league with conservative elements of Alamut who resented the Qiyamat, the dissolving of the old secret hierarchy (and thus their own powers as hierarchs) and who feared to live thus openly as heretics. Hasan II's son however succeeded him and established the Qiyamat firmly as Nizari doctrine.

"If the Qiyamat were accepted in its full implications however it would probably have brought about the dissolution and end of Nizari Ismailism as a separate sect. Hasan II as Qa'im or 'Lord of the Resurrection' had released the Alamutis from all struggle and all sense of legitimist urgency. Pure esotericism, after all, cannot be bound by any form.

"Hasan II's son, therefore, compromised. Apparently he decided to 'reveal' that his father was in fact and in blood a direct descendent of Nizar. The story runs that after Hasan-i Sabbah had established Alamut, a mysterious emissary delivered to him the infant grandson of Imam Nizar. The child was raised secretly at Alamut. He grew up, had a son, died. The son had a son. This baby was born on the same day as the son of the Old Man of the Mountain, the outward ruler. The infants were surreptitiously exchanged in their cradles. Not even the Old Man knew of the ruse. Another version was the hidden Imam committing adultery with the Old Man's wife, and producing as love-child the infant Hasan II.

"The Ismailis accepted these claims. Even after the fall of Alamut to the Mongol hordes the line survived, and the present leader of the sect, the Aga Khan, is known as the forty-ninth in descent from Ali (and pretender to the throne of Egypt!). The emphasis on Alid legitimacy has preserved the sect as a sect. Whether it is literally true or not, however, matters little to understanding of the Qiyamat.

"With the proclamation of the Resurrection, the teachings of Ismailism were forever expanded beyond the borders imposed on them by any historical event. The Qiyamat remains as a state of consciousness which anyone can adhere to or enter, a garden without walls, a sect without a church, a lost moment of Islamic history the refuses to be forgotten, standing outside time, a reproach or challenge to all legalism and moralism, to all the cruelty of the exoteric. An invitation to paradise."

(Scandal, Peter Lamborn Wilson, pgs. 41-42)

a depiction of al-Qiyama

After the death Muhammad II, Hasan II's son, there were repeated efforts to reinstitute the Shariah and bring the Nizari back in to the mainline Islamic community, with varying degrees of success. Hasan III, Muhammad II's son, would be the most successful in this regard. His successor, Muhammad III (often referred to as Aladdin) would attempt a middle ground.

"In the third and final phase of their history during the Alamut period, the Nizaris, who had become increasingly weary of their isolation within Muslim society, attempted a tactical rapprochement with the Sunni world. Immediately upon his accession in 1210, Jalal al-Din Hasan III (1210-21), the sixth Lord of Alamut, publicly repudiated the teachings associated with the declaration of the Resurrection and proclaimed his adherence to Sunni Islam, ordering his followers to observe the sacred law of Islam in its Sunni form. The Nizari community, viewing the unprecedented proclamations of their infallible imam as a reimposition of dissimulation (taqiyya), obeyed Hasan III's orders without dissent. The outside world too, accepted Hasan III's proclamations; and the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir (1180-1225), who in the aftermath of the disintegration of Saljuq rule was reviving the power and prestige of the caliph at Baghdad, issued a decree confirming the Nizari leader's new policy. Hasan III's bold accommodation to the outside world accorded the Nizari community a valuable respite from the continued Sunni persecutions. During the reign of Hasan III's son and successor, Ala al-Din Muhammad III (1221-55), however, enforcement of Sunni law was gradually relaxed and the Nizari  community openly reverted to its earlier traditions.

"The long reign of Muhammad III coincided with a turbulent period in the medieval history of Persia and the Muslim East, which now experienced a foretaste of the Mongol devastations. Muhammad III attempted in vain for some time to establish friendly relations with the Mongols and to save his community from their wrath. The Mongols had already been turned against the Nizari Isma'ilis by the Sunni scholars at their court; and fresh complaints about them from the Sunni judges of Qazwin and other Persian cities flowed into the Great Khan's court in Mongolia. As a result, when the Great Khan Mongke (1251-9) decided to complete the Mongol conquest of western Asia, he assigned first priority to the destruction of the Nizari community in Persia..."

(The Assassin Legends, Farhad Daftary, pgs. 42-43)

an image done by Marco Polo allegedly of Muhammad III (who died a year after Polo was born)

Under Muhammad III, the last major change to Nizari doctrine during the Alamut period occurred. Specifically, he tried to reconcile the proclamation of the Resurrection with Hasan III's about-face  reinstitution of the Shariah.

"The Nizaris developed a new doctrinal turn in order to reconcile the Qiyama teachings with the behavior of Hasan III. It was said that Qiyama was a time of the outward revelation of the true spiritual identity of the Imam in all his glory to the community, during which direct communication with God was possible. In periods of the radiant presence of the Imam, concepts like Shariah became meaningless, if not blasphemous. On the other hand, there are also periods of occultation, when the Imam chooses to conceal his true self from the community, even when he is physically present. During these times, the outward observance of Shariah is required to maintain the purity of the Law. This phase of  allegiance  to the sharia was designated as Satr, the period during which the Imam hides his true spiritual status by appearing to act merely as the worldly ruler of the Nizaris, rather than as the Qaim of the Qiyama, which is the true potential of every Nizari Imam. The alternation between the open and hidden phases of the Imam, between Qiyama and Satr, takes place at his discretion. Thus, under the reign of Muhammad III, as in pre-Qiyama Alamut, there was an observance of the Shariah, although not so strictly enforced as under his father's rule."

(The Templars and the Assassins, James Wasserman, pg. 124)

One suspects that the enforcement of the Shariah was very lax indeed under Muhammad III. He is generally viewed as a decadent ruler who's eccentric behavior earned him a reputation as a madman. He has also been described as a sadist as well as an alcoholic. Whatever the case, by the end of his long reign in 1255 the end was very near. His son, Khurshah, would only rule for a single year before Alamut fell to the Mongols. The rest of the Nizari state would soon follow. Khurshah, the twenty-seventh Nizari Imam, was murdered by the Mongols not long afterwards. The Nizari imamate continued amongst progeny, however, with its current head being Aga Khan IV. Today they are the second largest branch within Shiaism with an estimated fifteen million followers world wide.

Having now given a broad overview of the history of the Nizari I shall focus on some of the more fantastical claims concerning them in the next installment. Yes, hashish and the Templars will soon be discussed at length. Stay tuned dear reader.