Snow, Bourbon, and Metal
We continue digging into 2017 with some heavy sh*t this week, and it does not disappoint. I mean, rating results varied, but overall, it was a solid week…better than last week, if we do say so ourselves. Also, I promise this title makes sense once you listen to the show.
Reviews:
Hour of Penance – Cast the First Stone (Prosthetic)
Deserted Fear – Dead Shores Rising (Century Media)
The Great Old Ones – EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy (Season of Mist)
First Impressions:
Darkest Hour – “Those Who Survived” from Godless Prophets and the Migrant Flora out March 10th from Profound Lore
Hour Of Penance – Cast The First Stone
Deserted Fear – Dead Shores Rising
The Great Old Ones – EOD: A Tale Of Dark Legacy
The Sideshow Podcast 
Why yes, I do happen to be a Lovecraft fan. My introduction to the work of H.P. Lovecraft was in fact from heavy metal. The album cover of Iron Maiden’s Live After Death features Eddie rising from the grave with a tombstone that says “That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.” It attributes the quote to H.P. Lovecraft. I also heard that same line in the lyrics of the song “The Thing That Should Not Be” by Metallica. I was intrigued. Those were the pre-internet days, and I vividly recall scouring the local public library trying to find out more about this H.P. Lovecraft, including enlisting the help of a librarian who had no clue who Lovecraft was. I eventually found a story of his in an anthology book containing a collection of short stories.
I had been introduced to Edgar Allen Poe in a high school English class and found Poe fascinating. Lovecraft was even crazier and more out there than Poe. So I had to find more. Back then, you couldn’t just go to Amazon.com and order any book ever written. You actually had to scour book stores for rarer material. Lovecraft turned out to be pretty rare at this time. I found an anthology that had the same cover art as the album “Cause of Death” by Obituary (I didn’t know who Obituary was at the time). The turning point was when I read the story “At The Mountains Of Madness” in a single Sunday afternoon. From that point, I was hooked. I remember a road trip to Florida with my parents in which I stopped at every bookstore along the way looking for more Lovecraft, and eventually finding just about everything that Lovecraft wrote that was published.
To this day, I still have yet to experience anything as rich, think, dense, descriptive, and immersive as the writing of H.P. Lovecraft. His writing is not easy reading by any means, with page after page of description without dialog. His influence on creative minds has extended for 100 years, which includes Arkham Asylum in Batman and tons of heavy metal bands who have been inspired by Lovecraft. If I wasn’t in the middle of reading a 1,000 page book called Infinite Jest, I’d go reread some Lovecraft right now.
Wow. That’s pretty cool. I didn’t know you were such a fan. My experience with Lovecraft stops with his influence on Metal and horror movies (Re-Animator and From Beyond immediately come to mind). I’ve never read a story of his, though I probably should…I’m just not much of a reader. – Brian
If you haven’t read Edgar Allen Poe, I’d say to read some of his stuff before Lovecraft. Poe is a little more accessible. But if you have read Poe and enjoy it, Lovecraft is certainly the next place to go.