THE CALL OF THE WITCHES

"Call of the Witches" is an EP of bonus songs, presumably recorded during the 2012 "Dodecahedron" sessions and features 4 tracks that did not fit into the album's mold. I was honored to receive this from the band as a promo gift and if anything, it showcases this duo's unlimited potential, easily taking over the Goblin throne for exemplary cinematographic soundtrack music.

Dark, almost suffocating in deep nihilistic angst, where volcanic eruptions of sound coalesce with ardent synthesized fluttering, the impetuous opener "The Call of the Cthulhu" is about a story published in the pulp magazine "Weird Tales" in 1928. The character was created by writer H.P. Lovecraft who describes Cthulhu as "a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery- looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind". Nice! Obviously, the composition is serenely creepy with slithering echoes, misty tension and perspiring fear amid the synthesized notes. Unsettling piano gives a sense of paranoia, not unlike a de Maupassant/Kafka nightmare, gradually evolving into a grisly tourbillion of phosphorescent sound. Halloween music par excellence!

"Nosferatu" needs of course no introduction, being the vampirism legend of the 1928 film of the same name. Spooky terror, unambiguous menace and resolute doom mark this insufferable shorter ditty, a curious electronic/organic setting that pulsates wildly until a massive church organ blast settles in with dubious authority, amid the wispy synthesizer flickering.

"Witches" is another shorter piece, clocking in at nearly 7 minutes and suggests more creepiness, slightly less masculine than the previous bloodsucking quote and lush with uncomfortable sonics. A slight medieval piano based melody saves this from burning at the stake in Salem, again highly evocative and utterly original.

"Echoes from the Shore" is another epic book-end finale, 11 minutes of exhilarating soundscapes, deliciously ambient and soporific all the way through , with electronic dissonance and percussive oddness slowly creeping into the mix, like rivulets of some evil drug gathering in the blood flow. Highly experimental with little melody or structure, the mood is squarely in the stupor mode, as if strapped to a gurney with blue colored IV units plunging into one's veins. Towards the end, the monotone drumming (hello Mr.Mason!) gives the ominous piece some needed momentum as if arriving at the gates of some kind of liberating finality.

Boo!

4 Sorceress screeches

Yes!!!!! This is my favorite musical output from DAAL so far. I have listened to each and every release and this is the one that scratches all my psychedelic, electric and progressive itches the most and doesn't diminish the experience by throwing in a track in that doesn't seem to fit. THE CALL OF THE WITCHES was released in 2012, the same year as "Dodecahedron." I am not entirely sure which was released first, however this four track EP also found its way into the "Dodecahedron Limited Boxed Set" as the second disc. This release is kind of a leftovers package with two tracks appearing on the Colossus Projects by Musea Records and two more that are just a mystery as to why they are here and nowhere else!

"The Call Of Cthulu" comes from "The Stories Of H.P. Lovecraft: A Synphonic Collection." This is one of the first DAAL tracks that i ever heard and grabbed me by the tail and plunged me into their strange, eerie and spooky soundscapes. I was immediately hooked and had to get MORE! I started with the Lovecraft compilation and then moved on to everything else. The intro of this track kinda reminds me of the newer version of the Dr Who theme song by Murry Gold with its classical piano tinklings and mid-tempo march. The track immediately sets the mysterious and spookiness with its brooding moogs and strange proggified time sigs. The music takes its time to build to a full frenzied hard rockin' segment and then trades off with the tinkling piano and fluttering echoing synthesizers again. By the time we get to the end we get more hard rock with some seriously ragin' synth runs that despite the added aggression remain dark and lugubrious like a cloud that has parked itself over the sun and refuses to budge. The sense of tension and dread like the the monstrous Cthulu with its octopus head and a face with a mass of feelers could lunge its prodigious claws at you at any moment and pull you down into the abyss from whence you shall never return is unrelenting.

"Nosferatu" opens with some bizarre electronic vocals and some dark lugubrious synth action that sounds like ghostly apparitions circling above you announcing the arrival of the dreaded vampire who wants to suck your blood and all your life force so he can perpetuate his immortality. The slow and brooding tempo with ghostly swishing electronic whizzing is all you hear in the beginning but the track eventually breaks into some much needed drumming relief that ushers in a church organ that instantly conjures up images of Dracula and werewolf infested forests deep in the Transylvanian wilderness. The organ is loud and bombastic and sounds like it will literally blow the steeples and worshipping edifices right off of their very foundations.

"Witches" comes from the Colossus Project "Decameron: Ten Days in 100 Novellas - Part 1." The spooky synth attack begins this creepy number that sounds like a swarm of dead souls screaming in the ethers. It makes me think of all the dead witches who were tormented and burned at the stake during the crusades. The trippy and startling vortex of sound then morphs into a nice piano riff that sounds classically inspired but in a Celtic folk style of playing. I swear i expect Loreena McKennitt to pop out of the woods and start singing a baleful tune about witch abuse. Meanwhile the sounds of a synthesized theremin are in the background creating a nice undulating layer to the mix.

Finally we get to "Echoes From The Shore" which begins with birds and a thunderstorm afoot. This piece is a true piece of musical surreality as it is mostly a soundscape that feels like a dream that drifts in and out of the subconscious mixing in all kinds of ambient effects that only occasionally include a piano or synth run that pierces the meandering sounds to remind you that this is indeed a musical album. After about six minutes of this eleven minute strangeness we finally get some percussion which is a nice steady drum pattern that ushers in a nice groovy Floydian bass line that is accompanied by a parade of fluttering sounds. Some sound like Tuvan throat singers, some like flowing water, some just plain weird.

Everything about this one works for me! Each of these tracks is DAAL at their very best. They infuse all the mood shifting elements and ambience and add all the right ingredients at the right time. The brevity of this EP is also a plus because of the heaviness of this strange trip into their world, it truly is an intense listen for the entire run and then a welcome relief that it ends when it does. I really hope we get more EPs like between their albums because although i really love every DAAL album, this one has all the elements concentrated into what i love the most about their sound. 5 huge stars!!!!!