In 2023 multimedia and multidiscipinary artist Zeena unveiled her newest musical endeavor, Transcend, at the Movement of the Triangle series exhibit at the Snow Gallery in New York City. Though the exhibit took place last June, Zeena’s music was preserved as a digital-only album published via Bandcamp.
In the 80s and early 90s Zeena made gothic and death rock music while part of Radio Werewolf. Years later she would begin releasing her own music while exploring different genres. In 2020 Zeena realized her debut solo endeavor, Bring Me The Head Of F. W. Murnau, which was part silent film score, a hint of experimental-industrial, and a large dose of field recordings. Concurrently, Zeena explored a spiritual angle through her music, which listeners got to preview with her live performance of “Sethian Dream Oracle” that was released on the John Murphy tribute compilation All My Sins Remembered in 2016. Transcend can be thought of as the next canonical entry in Zeena’s spiritual music output.
Transcend balances two genres – new age and ambient – though neither in an expected fashion. Ambient music, in the Cryo Chamber vein, can conjure up images of deep space, forgotten cities, desolate alien landscapes, and so on, with an emphasis on droning and emptiness. It can certainly be a lonely genre. Transcend has some of these aspects of “alone-ness” yet it is hardly lonely. The album places an emphasis on the self, but acts as a companion in the process – a guide. The listener’s journey with Transcend may be as an individual, but the album provides a presence, ensuring the listener is not by themselves. Transcend also invites internal exploration, which is the opposite of other ambient varieties that prompt external exploration.
Transcend contains three tracks: “Ascent,” “Parting Clouds,” and “Gone Beyond.” The track list may be small but the runtime is substantial, coming in at over fifty minutes of music. If one takes the names of the three titles along with the album name, visuals of climbing a mountain are conjured up. Going a step further and bringing in an element of a silent film score (as Zeena had done with the aforementioned Bring Me The Head Of F. W. Murnau), transforms the listening experience into an aural version of a bergfilm. Transcend is a three act mountain film without the visuals, yet rife with both movement yet contemplation, depicting the overcoming of obstances, be them physical or psychic.
Act one, “Ascent,” is the initial mountain climb. The ambiance has a calming “awww” to it, but slowly as the song progresses, a breathing pattern begins to emerge, before becoming dominate over halfway through the song. The song’s breathing has two functions: to invite the listener to partake in breathing exercises, but also to convey the sense of exertion as one climbs the album’s metaphorical mountain.
Act two, “Parting Clouds,” is the resting song. The listener is sitting on an outcropping, seeing the land through wispy clouds, taking in the imagery and a respite on their journey. There is the simile of a string instrument that flutters in the song, adding an essence of alpine folk. The final act, “Gone Beyond,” is a mirror of “Ascent,” with the heavy breathing surfacing again like a train starting to gain momentum. Though the song is the album’s last, it is the next step in the listener’s journey as they resume their quest up the mountain, into the sky, and beyond.
The cover art of Transcend is a part of a larger piece titled Ladders that was created by Zeena. The imagery of the ladders, of course, invokes the feeling of going “up,” which ties into the theme of the album. However, the shadow play of the ladders, that they all appear to be going in different directions, with one even bent, generates a German Expressionist cinema vibe to the piece (Cabinet of Dr.Caligari-esque). Such evocations can be found a-plenty in Zeena’s prior album, Bring Me The Head of F. W. Murnau, which also tie into the bergfilm vibes of the album as well.
In Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Dr. Seuss quips “You’re off to great places, today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!” Though the passage is whimiscal, its text is certainly appropriate for Zeena’s Transcend. There is a concept to conquer, be it a literal or metaphoric mountain – or something else, for the betterment of the self. Transcend is the soundtrack for that journey, with a great place (spiritually, mentally, or something else), waiting at the summit.
If you want to learn more about Transcend or the other music works of Zeena check out the links below.
Two episodes of Scholars from the Edge of Time have gone online in the last couple of week.
First, for the end of April, we did an episode where Michele talked about the Alexander the Great TV series while I talk about the Lovecraftian Choose Your Own Adventure video game, The Innsmouth Case. YouTube link is here.
Next, Michele and I resume our Bella Cortez film retrospective and we dive into the pulp/scifi/peplum film The Giant of Metropolis. Check it out here on YouTube, and anticipate a Peplum Ponderings on it later on.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
The Nylon Stories: Book 1
My friend, Miss Corsair Debonair (who you may recall I interviewed for Exotica Moderne issue #14), has ventured into writing, have her first erotic short story, “The Nylon Stories: Book 1,” published on Kindle.
I was honored to do a bit of beta reading and editing for her first publication, and super flattered and humbled to be mentioned in the acknowledgements.
The story can be bought from Amazon – here is the Kindle product page. If you’re into office/business erotica with am emphasis on stockings, this is totally your cuppa.
Awen’s This World and Its Spirits
The newest Awen album, This World And Its Spirits, is officially out! I’m feel super chuffed and honored to be mentioned in the thank yous in this exquisite release.
This physical, vinyl edition of the album can be bought at the Triskele website (limited to 100 copies, so act quick!). The digital edition of This World and Its Spirits can be purchased on BandCamp.
For those curious, many releases in Awen’s catalogue are still available, be it through Triskele or Bandcamp. If you’re interested in The Hollow in the Stone, I did a review on that album, so consider giving it a read and checking out that album as well. Also, many moons ago, I did a review of their Grim King of the Ghosts for Heathen Harvest. An archived copy can be read here, but I’ll see about republishing it and updating it to my website. Regardless, check that one out as well!
Newest Acquisitions
Pluck up two new movies for the peplum library.
First is The Slave and the Sorcerer. This was a Kickstarted endeavor to make an very 80s-homage sword and sorcery flick.
The Crowdfunding campaign has long since ended, but info about the film can still be found at the Kickstarter site.
Next, a film I am super, super excited to see, is She is Conann.
A feminist take on Conan the Barbarian, reimagined as a woman through different points in time? Yes, please! My sixth sense of that this film is going to be amazing is going off.
Twenty years ago can seem like ancient history when looking at both pop and underground culture, a feeling that becomes compounded when a textual artifact from the past is an examination of ancient history proper. Industrial music typically does not dive into the world of antiquity, (usually staying in the realm of post-modern concepts), but the inherent experimental nature of the genre occasionally pushes a music project or release to explore topics related to ancient history. The 2004 compilation, XII Caesars, released by the long since defunct Somnambulant Corpse, is one of those outlier releases where industrialism and antiquity collide. Twenty years later, the release deserves to be unearthed and re-appreciated, not only for its contribution to the industrial genre, but as a time capsule of the underground scene in the aughts – a literal aural artifact.
XII Caesars Cover Insert.
XII Caesars is a concept compilation with a specific focus on Julius Caesar and the first eleven emperors of Ancient Rome as detailed in Suetonius’ influential text, The Twelve Caesars. Each track focuses on a specific Caesar and are presented in chronological order of each emperor’s reign with two exceptions: four emperors share track seven “Year Of Four Emperors (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian)” and the last track is the epilogue “Ultor,” a reference to Mars Ultor, an iteration of the god of Mars during the period of Augustus.
The first track, “Julius Caesar, Dictator,” is by the ambient-industrial project Exsanguinate. The background drone of the song feels like one is being shaken or rattled, with distorted wailing appearing halfway through the track. There is a chilling, 4-beat rhythm that adds a catchyness to the track, giving listeners something to latch onto during the song’s duration.
“Augustus” by Tugend is the album’s second track. An ambient song with some neo-classical and borderline dungeon synth elements, it sounds like the music one would hear from a church belonging to an apocalyptic cult, with the latter half of the track bringing a fire-and-brimstone drumming to it.
Card of Tiberius / Murderous Vision.
The third track is the ambient “Tiberius” by Murderous Vision. The song begins with a repeating sample “Hey, Caesar” with the background giving way to other, garbled, sampled voices. The gives the track an effect of hearing whispered plots and schemes, and a general uncomfortable vibe, no doubt recreating the feelings of Tiberius’ paranoia.
“Tiberius” is followed by “Gaius (Caligula)” by Bestia Centauri. A droning track with some atonal electronics, it would easily be at home on the Cryo Chamber label.
Card for Claudius / Post Scriptvm.
Post Scriptvm’s “Claudius” is the compilation’s fifth track. An experimental soundscape, the song is sample heavy of crying, weeping, animal baying, and water rustling. The samples sit atop a 1-2 beat that flows through the song, making the song unnerving and ominous while at the same time accessible and easy to latch onto.
The minimal-ambient “Nero” appears to be the only song ever released by The Great Despisers.
Survival Unit brings the power electronics genre to XII Caesars with their “Year Of Four Emperors (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian).” The track is both burbling and bombastic, peppered with muddled samples of speeches and screeches. It is volatile track, definitely mimicking the period of civil war in the Roman Empire.
“Titus” by Önd is an extremely minimal, experimental song, bordering on a single note being held through the entire duration.
The last of the twelves Caesars, Domitian, is the compilation’s penultimate track and composed by Axone, the project of Somnambulant Corpse’s owner Chris Donovan. An industrial soundscape song, “Domitian” feels both windswept and grating, like traversing stone tunnels constructed by giant bees.
The final track on XII Caesars is “Epilogue (Ultor)” by Marspiter. An industrial-ambient composition, the song feels like gazing upon a ruined city in the middle of a desert under a dark sky, a last glimpse of what once was.
Insert Back.
CD in tray.
The cover of XII Caesars shows the busts of the twelve emperors in a small, 3×4 grid, with a faint, dark, modern cityscape as the background. Inside the booklet shows a gladius while the CD proper shows the pillars and buildings of Ancient Rome aflame. The presentation proper is akin to the imagery used by VNV Nation during their Empires-era (late 90s/early 2000s). Included with the album is a series of large, double sided postcards, housed in a ziplock bag, each depicting a rendition of different Caesar in a hand drawn style. The entire package evokes both the ornateness and DIY philosophy expressed by small, extreme music labels of the aughts.
Complete packaging of XII Caesars.
Though ten industrial/ambient/noise artists are showcased on XII Caesars, only a three survive to the present day: Murderous Vision, Post Scriptvm, and Survival Unit (though Exsanguinate appears defunct, the project’s mastermind, Thomas Garrison, continues on prolifically as Control). Post Scriptvm and Stephen Petrus from Murderous Vision have graciously shared their experiences and thoughts about their tracks, providing incredible insight not only into their craft, but of industrialism of the period.
What is your relationship with antiquity, classics, or (in the case of pop culture) the sword and sandal genre? Are these topics that interest you or influence you in any way?
Murderous Vision: Outside of an affinity for the Jason And The Argonauts film as a child, I don’t have a notable interest in the genre. I do, however, have an interest in all things historical. So, when creating my Tiberius themed contribution, I tried to keep his rule in mind. Something sounding epical, orderly and underlying dread were the things I attempted to execute.
Post Scriptvm: The name of my project, Post Scriptvm, as well as its specific spelling, is inspired by the mid-1970s BBC series I, Claudius, which portrays the early Roman Empire and is narrated by Emperor Claudius. Although my project has consistently been influenced by the ideas and aesthetics of Russian art and literary movements at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly Russian Futurism, I opted for this Latin name because, to me, it implies fin de siècle or the end of an era.
Murderous Vision, photo courtesy of the artist.
Outside niche subgenres such as neofolk and martial industrial, industrial music generally doesn’t dabble in pre-1900s history, let alone antiquity. From your perspective why do you think that is?
Murderous Vision: I think it may be related to the actual sounds of these genres. The instruments used and song structures involved evoke the way one thinks music sounded in these periods. With standard industrial music, the instrumentation is very clearly of the 20th and 21st centuries, and might be sonically incompatible with these historical periods. Authenticity and effectiveness reign.
Post Scriptvm: Many industrial music artists that I particularly appreciate, such as Bad Sector, Werkbund, Internal Fusion, SPK, Inade, among others, find inspiration in ancient mythologies. To me, this makes perfect sense. A 20th-century art critic once observed that the avant-garde serves as a continuation of classical art within modern contexts—an intentional continuation of an ideal that has been lost and ruined. For me, industrial music, particularly its more extreme, dark variety, has always served as a soundtrack to a civilization in steady and catastrophic decline. We primarily grasp, value and interpret antiquity through its ruins entombed within the sterile museum morgues, while a minuscule portion of surviving texts suggests an expansive realm of ideas forever beyond our reach. Industrial music, in parallel, reflects the decay of modern civilization, frequently finding inspiration in the ruins of ancient cultures. By referencing ancient ruins to depict the downfall of our own society, we are essentially shaping our own antiquity.
Post Scriptvm, photo courtesy of the artist.
What was the genesis of your involvement of the XII Caesars compilation?
Murderous Vision: At the time I had a close relationship with Chris Donovan and his label Somnambulant Corpse. I had previously been involved with the label on his Lovecraft themed compilation [note: The Outsider], and released a split CD with his personal project Kuru, called Blood-Brain Barrier. Both of these were released by Somnambulant.
Post Scriptvm: I received an invitation to contribute to the compilation from the owner of the Somnambulant Corpse record label. A couple of years prior to XII Caesars, Somnambulant had issued my debut album [note: Guaze], and I had previously contributed a track to the label’s earlier compilation dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft.
Did you get to select your emperor or was one assigned to you?
Post Scriptvm: The label actually had assigned each artist a Caesar to dedicate a track to, stating that the compilation’s subject matter necessitated a somewhat dictatorial approach.
Murderous Vision: It was assigned to me, based on his personal feeling of which emperor he felt suited the sound of each project he chose to include.
Your track on the compilation, was it an untitled song you had in your repertoire that you submitted or was it a song composed exclusively for the release?
Murderous Vision: It was composed exclusively for his compilation.
Post Scriptvm: For this compilation, I created an entirely new track, incorporating samples from both I, Claudius and the 1979 film Caligula, another one of my favorites.
How did you go about capturing the theme of your respective Caesar and conveying it in your composition?
Murderous Vision: I started by reading what I could online about the history and life of my Caesar. In drafting the sounds I kept in mind that I wanted to use reverbs that would evoke vast marble halls and open ancient stadiums. I recorded everything with a degraded VHS copy of Caligula playing on the TV in the background.
Post Scriptvm: Apart from incorporating samples from the mentioned films and submerging myself into both The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius and The Roman Empresses by Jacques Roergas De Serviez prior to recording the track, I did not deviate from my typical approach for composing Post Scriptvm tracks at the time. As an undergraduate student back then, I had only rather primitive, rudimentary equipment at my disposal, which, in my view, was well suited for interpreting the ambiance of the ancient Roman Empire.
Going back in time to 2004, what do you recall the reception of the XII Caesars was like?
Murderous Vision: I don’t think it was widely circulated, but deeply appreciated by those who did get one. I seem to remember some favorable reviews circulating.
Post Scriptvm: The reception was very positive. Despite being a DIY homemade CD-R release, the compilation was sold all over the United States and Europe and received several positive reviews in the underground press. The early 2000s marked the pinnacle for underground industrial music artists and small independent record labels like Somnambulant.
What are your thoughts on the compilation as a whole, from the presentation to the other contributions?
Murderous Vision: I was quite proud of my involvement. The label pulled no punches in the presentation, using high quality artwork and paper stocks to present the art panels, and professionally produced media sealed the deal. Every other act contributed great sound materials. It was a stellar compilation from a golden era that was known for stellar compilations.
Post Scriptvm: It is certainly of its time both in terms of sound production and its distinctly DIY presentation. It’s a wonderful testament to the era when underground experimental music flourished, showcasing the passion and dedication of the record label and every artist involved. Regrettably, the record label and the majority of the artists are no longer active.
Reflecting on your song for the compilation, are there any changes you would’ve made for it? Any thoughts of updating, remastering, or remixing your song and giving it a second life?
Murderous Vision: I think the track was a nice representation of the sound of Murderous Vision in that era. I think it stands as a good representation of both the band and the theme. The version that appears on there was truncated by the label for whatever reason he had at the time. The full, unedited version did, however, appear in 2006 on the Murderous Vision retrospective Ghosts of the Soul Long Lost Volume 1 [Note: listed as “Tiberious (Full Version)”].
Post Scriptvm: If I were to reinterpret that track now, it would have a completely different sound. I prefer directing my attention towards the future rather than dwelling on the past. Nonetheless, having to revisit it would provide me with a compelling reason to reread The Twelve Caesars and The Roman Empresses and to rewatch Caligula and I, Claudius.
Finally, what are some upcoming project news you’d like to share?
Post Scriptvm: My new LP titled Eisstoß is now available on Tesco Organisation, and I have a cassette EP titled Секта set for release in April on DumpsterScore Home Recordings.
Murderous Vision: This year will be another filled with activity. 2024 actually marks thirty years since the inception of the project. Among things that will happen this year are a performance in May supporting longtime friends Awen in NYC. There are a couple special surprises planned for the gig, but one must attend to see what they are! This year will also see the release of a new full length album called Pestilent Black Breath on Germany’s excellent label Dunkelheit Produktionen. Work is also well underway on a retrospective book of reflections on thirty years of Murderous Vision that will be packed with photos, flyers and ephemera from the beginning to present times. The machine chugs on…
Sincere thank you to Stephen Petrus and Post Scriptvm for their time and answers. More information on their projects can be found at the below links:
I had the honor to interview Ian Ross from Flesh Field about their newest album, Voice of the Echo Chamber, their first album in album two decades! Back in the aughts I listened to Flesh Field all the time and even caught them live in Seattle in 2005. I’m so happy to see the project resurrected. So, check out the interview and check out the new album!
The New Peplum Citation
Dr. Connie Skibinski’s essay “Crazy Man-Killing Monsters: The Inimical Portrayal of the Amazons in Supernatural‘s ‘Slice Girls'” cites Valerie Estelle Frankel’s essay “Hercules, Xena and Genre: The Methodology Behind the Mashup” from The New Peplum.
Dr. Skibinski’s essay has been published in the open access journal Thersites and can be read here.
I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found hereand it’s a major WIP.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2023.
Published in February, this collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.”
Published in late March, the first issue of the zine Footage Fiends, contains my essay “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.”
Published in early August, Dark Dead Things #2 contains my essay “Correlating the Contents: Mimetic Desire in H. P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Call of Cthulhu’.”
Will Penny (Tiki Surf Witches Want Blood) has a new Kickstarter going on for the next project via his Sex and Monsters endeavor: Skinny Dipper.
From the Press Release:
Chillwave pioneer Nite Jewel is making her comics debut alongside a variety of talented writers and artists in Skinny Dipper. This 32-page comic zine launches October 31, 2023 from Sex and Monsters and is accompanied by an original soundtrack single from the internationally lauded singer/songwriter.
Inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, R.H. Barlow, and H.P. Lovecraft, Skinny Dipper is a meditation on love, death, and the mysterious lure of the ocean. The zine features the talents of Emily Roberts, April Snellings, Jelena Đorđević, and more – and is perfectly complimented by Nite Jewel’s hypnogogic siren song, which serves as a haunting electro-pop soundtrack for
the story.
Both the Skinny Dipper zine and soundtrack single will be available from Sex and Monsters on Kickstarter starting October 31, 2023 (www.sexandmonsters.com/skinnydipper). The zine features 32-pages of art printed on silk matte stock with spot UV coating. The single will be available on 7” vinyl in a deluxe gatefold cover featuring artwork by Emily Roberts. The music will also be available to stream online and can be purchased digitally from Gloriette Records (https://nitejewel.bandcamp.com/music).
In the late 90s through the aughts the industrial scene saw a new trend of incorporating orchestral sounds into the genre. Ronan Harris via his VNV Nation project took hold of this orchestral-electro strain, infused it with trance and synthpop elements to develop a new genre: futurepop. The formula was a success and futurepop began to pop up in the music of projects such as Icon of Coil, Apoptygma Berzerk, Covenant, and others.
Concurrently with the development of futurepop, Ian Ross of Flesh Field was taking orchestral-electro in a completely different direction. Ross took the emerging aggrotech genre, tuned down the harshness that one would find in acts such as :wumpscut: and Suicide Commando, and incorporated orchestral elements to create a unique brand of industrialism, counter to futurepop.
Ross’s formula was also a success and Flesh Field dominated the club scene at the same time of VNV Nation and other futurepop acts. But like Roy Batty in Blade Runner, Flesh Field burned very bright yet very quick. Flesh Field only released three albums between 1999 and 2004 before Ross retired the project, abdicating his spot in the industrial pantheon that no successor act attempted to claim.
But, volcanos only stay dormant for so long. Nearly two decades later Flesh Field has unexpectedly exploded back into the industrial-electro scene with a brand new album, Voice of the Echo Chamber (VotEC). Released on November 3rdfrom Metropolis, Flesh Field’s new album is both familiar and new. The anger present in older Flesh Field tracks is focused in VotEC as Ross tackles gun violence, mass shootings, and what compels individuals to walk down this dark path of no return. It is a strong, complex album, and Ross has generously answered some questions about his new offering and comeback to the music scene.
Ian Ross headshot from Facebook.
For Voice of the Echo Chamber (VoeTC) were there any old lyrics or songs that you’ve had sitting in your repertoire that you were able to incorporate into the new album, or is the entire album built off song writing and composing done fairly recently?
In between albums I like to create new sounds, loops, samples, and drum kits. I had quite a few of these left over from the Tyranny of the Majority era that I had never used before, so some of them did end up on VotEC. Similarly, I used a melody from an unreleased track I wrote around 2008 called “In Perpetuity” in the beginning of “Rampage” on VotEC. I always liked the melody and wanted to make sure I used it somewhere. Other than that, everything else is entirely new. I started writing in March of this year and finished up in early August.
Personal copy of Voice of the Echo Chamber.
Your new album contains the Flesh Field trademark elements of electro and orchestral, but also contains quite a few samples of firearms: reloading, shooting, etc. This has a strong resonance of the film scores of Jóhann Jóhannsson, especially that of Sicario (2015). Are you a fan of Jóhannsson’s work?
I haven’t seen Sicario, but it’s totally possible that I have heard Johannsson’s work before and enjoyed it without knowing it was his. His is not a name I’m familiar with, but I did check out “The Beast” a bit ago based on your question, and I definitely thought it was cool. I’ll have to start listening to more! On VotEC, nearly all of the firearm samples are original. Michael Prince from Diet of Wires is a very good friend of mine, and when we were talking about what I was trying to do with the album, he offered to record some of the firearm samples using his own collection. There are samples from every weapon mentioned in the track “Arsenal” spread out through the album with the exception of the .38 revolver. We didn’t have one of those.
Personal copy of Strain.
Autographed by Ian Ross.
Autographed by Wendy Yanko.
Since your last full album, Strain (2004), there’s been new waves of electro-industrial bands that have popped up. Have you heard your influence on newers acts in the past few years? Or, have any projects reached out to you to express your impact on them?
I haven’t really kept up with what’s happening in the genre at all in the last fifteen years or so. If there are newer bands that have taken influence from Flesh Field, that’s amazing. I know how important to me certain bands are that have influenced me, so it’s really humbling to me when I hear that Flesh Field has had the same impact on others. I’ve had a few artists tell me this recently. It really is an honor every time I hear it.
You had a working relationship with Metropolis who released Strain. How was it to reach back to them to see if they would be interested in releasing a new Flesh Field album? Since the passing of Dave Heckman last year, how has working with Metropolis changed?
Dave Heckman did so much for so many bands and for music fans in general. I really feel privileged to have known him and worked with him. Metropolis has always been great to me, so they were the first label I went to with VotEC. They have continued to be just as awesome under Gail. I sent them an email sometime in July I believe letting them know VotEC was coming and asking if they were interested, and they got back to me the next day saying they were. Everything has been great with them since. Nina has really helped me out with Spotify and social media, two things I really knew (know?) nothing about how to utilize properly.
Personal copy of Belief Control.
Autographed by Ian Ross.
Autographed by Wendy Yanko.
It looks like you’ve maintained a lasting friendship with folks from Imperative Reaction, recently with them providing music and art for VotEC and you remixing their songs. How long do all of yall go back and how have you’ve supported each other over the years?
Imperative Reaction and Flesh Field go back a long way to the early aughts. We’ve toured together, we’ve remixed each other, and they have crashed at my place on two occasions during separate Imperative Reaction tours. There are fun stories! We’ve shared the stage during tracks (I sang along with him on “Rift” onstage during a show, and he of course performed “Voice of Dissent” with us onstage). Ted has always been like a kindred brother in music to me. It really has been awesome to get to know him.
Personal copy of The Azoic’s Forward.
“Evolution” remixed by Flesh Field.
Flesh Field has a legacy of remixes of other fellow industrial and synthpop acts music: SMP, Collide, The Azoic, Glis, many others. With a rejuvenated Flesh Field you’ve recently done remixes for GenCAB (“The Badge”) and System Syn (“The Light Was a Lie”). A three part question regarding your remix work; first, how do you get involved with remixing other artists? Are these brokered by labels or do the projects reach out to you (and you them)?
When I remix other artists or other artists remix Flesh Field, it’s usually one of four ways: because we know each other somehow (The Azoic, Assemblage 23, Dubok, Imperative Reaction, for example), we’re label-mates (Project-X, Individual Totem, L’ame Immortelle for example), the label had organized them, or the bands reach out directly to me or I to them. The remix I just did for System Syn happened because Clint and I go way back, and I wanted to do something for him to say “thank you” for the artwork he did for Voice of the Echo Chamber. Plus, I really dig the track “The Light Was a Lie” and had ideas for remixing it the very first time I heard it. With GenCAB, Jim at Metropolis put David Dutton and me in contact since we were both inquiring about remixes after finishing our respective albums. He’s a really cool guy, and really talented. I chose to remix “The Badge” and he chose to remix “Catalyst,” which turned out awesome. I’m hoping to put out the GenCAB mix out along with some other stuff as a follow-up to Voice of the Echo Chamber. Still trying to figure out what that looks like.
The Light Was a Lie cover art included in Bandcamp download.
Secondly, what is your philosophy when remixing another artist’s song? Is it to Flesh Field-ify their song? Or is this a chance to step out of the Flesh Field box and do something else?
I like to start from scratch and rebuild the track as if it were Flesh Field. The majority of the time, I only ask the artist for the track BPM and the vocals. No MIDI files, no samples, no loops. I figure if the artist or a label wants a mix from Flesh Field, it should sound “Flesh Field-y,” so I don’t really use remixes to experiment any more than I use Flesh Field to experiment.
The Badge cover art included in Bandcamp download.
And finally, in your canon of remixes is there a specific one you’re especially proud of?
Tough one. There are a few that I’m really happy with, but might sound dated today, like the remixes I did for Croc Shop, or Individual Totem, or Cesium 137. I think the one I had the most fun with out of any remix I’ve ever done was the remix I just did for GenCAB, and I think it’s musically evident from the very beginning of the remix how much fun I had. I love the way David does vocals, and they gave me all kinds of ideas, particularly for the chorus. Listening to the new GenCAB album Signature Flaws really inspired me to up my game when it comes to vocals on anything I do post VotEC. The amount of thought and effort he put into those vocals makes me want to try harder on mine.
Personal copy of Viral Extinction.
A technical question regarding creating music in the 2000s to creating music now. You mentioned in a different interview (DiscoveringBands) that you had to procure new, modern equipment. How does this impact old samples and music composed back in the day? Are you able to salvage some of your library from back then to use on new equipment, or is there versioning and compatibility issues? If Flesh Field decides to play live and decide to dig into some old classics, will you have to re-create your songs anew?
I do think I have some backups on digital audio tape of some of the old tracks for live performances, so if I ever needed them, I should be ok as long as my DAT player still works. It’s almost a quarter century old now, though. I don’t know how playing old tracks would go over though without Rian or Wendy performing onstage, so if I ever did play live again, that would be something to consider. I did revamp “My Savior,” “Overload,” and “Cyberchrist” for live performances only right after Belief Control was released to try to update the sound on them a bit. Those versions have only ever been played live.
Personal copy of Crackdown.
Flesh Field music has been featured in films, TV shows, and video games. For example, years ago you appeared with other industrial acts in the xbox 360 game Crackdown (2007). In your interview with We Have a Technical you talk about sounds in games and how to realize them as music. When you have downtime, are you yourself a gamer? If so, any particular genres of games you’re drawn to?
I definitely USED to be a gamer, but I rarely ever play video games anymore. I used to be very into online FPS games (PC only – I can’t hit anything on console). The last game I got really into was Ark: Survival Evolved. My children loved watching me tame dinosaurs in that game. The problem was that the children got attached to the pets. I had four tamed dodo birds that my kids loved, and one night while they were in bed and I was playing, I accidentally punched a triceratops, and the triceratops killed all my dodos. So, I had to stay up for another few hours re-taming four new dodos and naming them with the same names as the dead ones just so my children wouldn’t be traumatized. I will play Battlefront with my son from time to time.
Dodo from Ark: Survival Evolved for adorable reference.
KMFDM was one of the bands that had to deal directly with mass shootings (Columbine), and many years later responded to gun violence very, very, very tongue in cheek with their song “Me and My Gun” on their album Blitz(2009). VotEC has a gun centric song with “Arsenal” that lyrically recalls “Me and My Gun.” However, your song doesn’t go the route of KMFDM irony and instead goes with a scary, dark, sinister perspective. How do you juggle such subject matter, making sure your message is that of condemnation and not endorsement?
“Arsenal” was the second track I wrote for the album, and the first track I wrote lyrics for, and I had that exact concern, particularly on that track. With this type of subject matter, I didn’t think it was enough to just hope that people understood from the context of the entire album what I was actually trying to say, especially since people will likely be buying one track at a time instead of the whole album, which means that they won’t have the full context. I included a statement in the liner notes explaining the context due to that fear, but I don’t know if that will be enough since that statement isn’t included with the downloads. I don’t want to explain everything on the album too much, since that might ruin the experience of it for some, but I do try to talk about the overall point of the album as much as I can during interviews.
VotEC has been out for a week and some change. Fans have been excited on social media and places like Reddit for your new album and now it has dropped. What has been the feedback so far? Are you feeling reinvigorated for your next endeavor?
The response has been amazing. I really didn’t expect it to land as well as it has, at least so far. I’ve received a number of messages telling me how great it is to have Flesh Field back, and the same is true for me. I feel whole again.
Sincere appreciation and gratitude to Ian Ross for his time in doing this interview. For more information about Voice of the Echo Chamber and Flesh Field’s resurrection check out these other interviews:
Review Republished: Awen’s The Hollow in the Stone
Last week I re-published another older piece of mine, a look at the album The Hollow in the Stone by Texas neofolk outfit Awen.
I originally published this on my neofolk blog back in 2020. It’s new home can be found here.
General Neo-Peplum News
Weird Tales #366 Cover Reveal
Issue #366 of the resurrected Weird Tales magazine will be devoted to all things sword and sorcery. The Weird Tales Facebook page revealed the cover art by Bob Eggleton:
The list of authors on the front looks epic. Keep an eye out at the Weird Tales official website when the issue becomes available to pre-order.
Gladiator 2 News
Article over at MSN/MovieWeb has a write up on all things known so far about Gladiator 2.
New Warkings Music Video
Austrian neo-peplum power metal outfit Warkings has a brand new music video online.
The song is called “Monsters” and has a guest appearance from Morgana le Fay. The video can be watched on YouTube or in the embedded player above. The song will be appearing on Warking’s next album, Morgana, slated to be released November 11th.
Released late in 2019, The Hollow in the Stone is American neofolk outfit Awen’s third and newest studio album since their 2014 release, Grim King of the Ghosts. Released right on the eve of Awen’s fifteenth year in operation, The Hollow in the Stone is the band’s most refined, polished, and ambitious album to date. The album is mixture of distinct, yet associated styles – neofolk, post-industrial, narrative spoken word – arranged on the release in a seamless, cohesive fashion. This balance of styles has not gone unnoticed by fans of the band, with Erin Powell, figurehead of Awen, stating “stylistically we have maintained a combination of folk and industrial elements for the last several albums, whereas some projects seem to just focus on an all acoustic instrument sound. I’ve had feedback from people over the years that they appreciate this mixture of sounds from us.”
The Hollow in the Stone contains thirteen tracks, two of them being intro/outros, with the rest being original compositions, with only “I am Stretched on your Grave” being a traditional song, rearranged by Katrin X. Guest appearances are a trademark of Awen, with long time alumnus b9 InViD of Et Nihil appearing once again, along with a first time appearance of Jerome Reuter from ROME. “Perversity of Joy,” “Brigid the Dark, Brigid the Light,” “Hawthorn Rod,” “The Death Of Reynard,” and “The Hollow In The Stone” constitute the album’s neofolk offerings. “Englyn for Blodeuwedd,” “In the Heart of the Corpseknot” and “The Sickle and the Setting Sun” are the industrial/martial-industrial tracks on the album while “I am Stretched on your Grave” adds an ethereal sound to the mix.
The neofolk tracks are exceptionally well executed, with Powell displaying a fondness for “Hawthorn Rod” that he feels shows all facets of Awen coming into play. The song is an excellent duet between Powell and Katrin X, with catchy and seductive guitars that lures a listener in. “Brigid the Dark, Brigid the Light,” which is about the Irish goddess Brigid, captures the same romantic neofolk elements.
Awen live, 2019. Photo by Karl Hendrik
“Morrigan” is an unexpected surprise on The Hollow in the Stone and a tremendous delight. A departure from traditional Awen songs of the past, “Morrigan” is a spoken word track. Awen has come close to flirting with the genre on prior releases in songs such as “Sacrifice” from The Bells Before Dawn, which is more akin to an NSK speech or a Praise the Fallen-era VNV Nation track, and “Dream of an Omen,” which also contains bits of the spoken word formula, yet still feels more like a song than a narration. Instead, “Morrigan” is a narrative, third person perspective, dark fiction, spoken word short story. In the tale, an unnamed protagonist travels though a dark forest with a sinister steed and happens upon the mysterious titular Morrigan at a stream. It is an encounter that will not bode well for the protagonist. “Morrigan” demonstrates that Powell is a master orator, and Awen should consider releasing more songs, or even a one-off album, of narrated stories. As Cadabra Records has shown with their luxurious vinyl releases of readings of H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Thomas Ligotti, there is a niche market for dark spoken word albums set to ambient/industrial soundscapes. Awen, who have repurposed poetic works before (as “Empire, Night & the Breaker” from The Bells Before Dawn which uses the poetry of Breaker Morant) is the perfect outfit to release even more tracks in this vein.
For fans of ROME who are not familiar with Awen, but are interested in checking out the album due to Reuter’s appearance on the track “The Death Of Reynard” (or perhaps due to Awen’s appearance on ROME’s Le Ceneri Di Heliodoro), are in for a treat as Reuter’s distinctive, hypnotic voice is put to excellent use on the neofolkish song. The song showcases a great mixture of both ROME and Awen.
Excluding the outro “Cyfraith Dyn,” The Hollow in the Stone ends with “The Sickle and the Setting Sun,” and what a way to end. The song is an excellent representation of Awen’s aggressive-side of their music catalog, and if this were the 90s-2000s, “The Sickle and the Setting Sun” would be the album’s first MCD single, complete with remixes and multimedia tracks. The song is an apocalyptic-pop, bombastic tune. Powell’s voice booms over thunderous drums while Katrin X’s vocals seethe the song’s title in a call-and-response fashion. The opening lyrics “the symbol of the setting sun / cruel crescent that severs grain and chaff as one / the punishing steel / once cut, it’s done! / the sickle and the setting sun” sets the stage for the subject matter of the song, drawing imagery from neofolk tropes, and yet uniquely applying to Awen, creating an anthem of sorts for the band. The sickle has been an iconic implement used by the band, especially during live performances with Katrin X brandishing them, drawing parallels to, say, how Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle did during the May Day celebrations in The Wicker Man. Powell further elaborates on the meaning of the sickle to Awen:
“Katrin does use a pair of antique sickles with a contact mic on them in studio recordings and live performances. It is an interesting symbol to me. Agricultural, but also urban and modern in the context of 20th century political iconography. We read that the ancient druids used a golden sickle to cut mistletoe in their rituals. The shape of the blade is a crescent moon, which has many interesting connotations throughout the ages and different cultures. The severing blade, life from death.”
Awen live, 2019. Photo by Karl Hendrik
The album concludes with “Cyfraith Dyn: which echoes the sound of the album’s intro track, “Cyfraith Natur.” Both tracks act as opulent bookends to the album.
Though it has been five years between the release of Awen’s second album, Grim King of the Ghosts, and The Hollow in the Stone, those years were not idle ones for the band. The time period saw numerous live, split releases (such as 2016’s European Crusade 2015 with Et Nihil and 2017’s Abyssus Abyssum Invocat [Defiance in Dallas] with Boyd Rice) and a handful of tours and live appearances. Awen’s accumulation of prestige over the years is evident in the band’s new home on the legendary Trisol label, making them bedfellows with renown acts such as, ROME, Clan of Xymox, L’Âme Immortelle, and Project Pitchfork. Per Powell, the move to Trisol came about during their concert in Frankurt in 2017:
“Alex, the label owner of Trisol, was at our concert in Germany when we played with Boyd and played as Awen as well as Fire + Ice for Ian Read. Jerome Reuter was also there, and I invited him backstage to meet everyone and gave him his first Neofolk Bullwhip! He later recommended us to Alex, who was already impressed by our performance. We decided to make the move from OEC to Trisol then.”
The end result of Awen’s signing to Trisol is the release of a beautiful and ornate vinyl edition of The Hollow in the Stone. Matching the artistic acumen demonstrated in the music proper, the physical release of the album is equally lavish. Limited to 500 units, The Hollow in the Stone is pressed on transparent vinyl, with lyrics to all the songs printed on the inner sleeve, all housed in a sleeve with unsettling (in a Giger sort of way) artwork, adopted from photos taken by Powell. Those without a vinyl player are taken into consideration as a CD with all the tracks comes packaged with the album. All in all, a luxurious release, both in regard to the packaging, but also to the music within.
Awen live, 2019. Photo by Karl Hendrik
Post The Hollow in the Stone, the future looks as bright as the setting sun for Awen, with plans of a new albums already in the works. Powell tantalizes:
“We are working on a new album currently and have the foundations for ten songs so far. This record does not have a title yet. Expect several acoustic songs, but also an array of industrial percussion including oil drums and scrap metal. I have a concept in mind for the album, with a rambling piece of guitar music that runs like a river in between all of the other separate songs, like a subplot in a story. I think this element will only be heard on the vinyl edition, and the CD version should feature the tracks without it…making a different listening experience between the formats.”
The Hollow in the Stone Track List:
Side A
Cyfraith Natur
Perversity Of Joy
Brigid The Dark, Brigid The Light
Englyn For Blodeuwedd
Hawthorn Rod
In The Heart Of The Corpseknot
Side B
Morrigan
The Death Of Reynard
The Hollow In The Stone
Ravenna
I Am Stretched On Your Grave
The Sickle and the Setting Sun
Cyfraith Dyn
All photos provided courtesy of Erin Powell. Sincere gratitude for the quotations as well. Awen can be found at:
During the summer of 2015, the skull of German silent film director F. W. Murnau was stolen from his tomb.1 Remnants of wax from lit candles present at the scene spurred the hypothesis that occult work was afoot while the macabre nature of Murnau’s stolen skull drew parallels to his legendary horror output, in particular his influential expressionist film, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922).
Shortly thereafter, inspired by the event, multimedia artist Zeena Schreck announced a “sequel to Radio Werewolf’s mystical, musical piece Bring Me the Head of Geraldo Rivera” that would be appropriately titled Bring Me the Head of F. W. Murnau.2 Five years later, Bring Me the Head of F. W. Murnau (BMTHOFWM) was released in March of 2020.
Cover art for Bring Me the Head of F. W. Murnau
BMTHOFWM marks the first studio release proper of Zeena performing music solo. Prior to this EP, Zeena had been a part of many musical collaborations and projects, such as Radio Werewolf, and had released some of her live ritual performances, such as her appearance at Wave-Gotik-Treffen, on compilations and YouTube. Per Zeena in regard to releasing a concept album instead of an album of her ritual performances:
“I definitely have future recording plans which will be in the areas of dark ambient and ritual music. [T]his first solo release was experimental in the sense I’d never done such a precise theme as concept album like this before. I like working within specific parameters though. Even in past recordings, when it might not seem obvious, I’ve almost always had in mind a particular framework within which to create the music. But this album was much more of a specific theme than I would normally do.”3
BMTHOFWM certainly has a thematic laser focus, concentrating on Murnau and some of his films, while capturing a certain silent film aesthetic, though paradoxically, with sound. Zeena pulls this feat off – a silent film with no images but instead with sounds – by incorporating elements of field recordings, minimalist-industrial, exotica, spoken words, and incantations, in conjunction with the brilliant German expressionist/Caligari style artwork that emblazons the release’s cover art that evokes some of the classic horror posters of the era.
Though Murnau is the subject of the EP, the filmmaker did not have a strong influence on Zeena at the beginning of the project:
“[Murnau was] not a huge influence. It was only his films Nosferatu and Faust that I had known and really liked since childhood, when they’d play on late night TV. I knew he’d worked with the occultist artist/architect Albin Grau on the sets for Nosferatu but working with an occultist doesn’t automatically make you one. There is also the tie-in of my last name being the same as the actor who played Count Orlok, Max Schreck, in Murnau’s most famous film Nosferatu. I’d also remembered the scandalous rumors about his untimely death that my godfather Kenneth Anger wrote of in Hollywood Babylon, rumors which, by the way, I’ve since learned weren’t true. But aside from these things, I hadn’t much knowledge of his life prior to embarking on this project. I know far more about him now.
Originally, I’d planned that this [release] was only going to be a single; not more than a two-track novelty piece inspired by a quirky event. But then, as I began researching more about Murnau and put flesh on the bones of this project, certain metaphysical portals started opening up. More material for more tracks developed than could be narrowed down to just a single. Yet I didn’t want this to be a full album either. So, the logical middle ground was to make it an EP.”4
Through the process of researching Murnau, Zeena also visited the director’s home and his grave, gathering field recordings that would be incorporated into the compositions of BMTHOFWM:
“[I] intermingled various sounds from both locations in just about every track except the opening one, ‘Letter to Mother.’ Some of those field recordings were used in a straightforward manner, such as a fox barking, birds singing, the sound of some machinery or a metal gate clanging. Those can be detected fairly clearly enough. But other sounds used, I distorted in the editing to achieve certain auditory effects.
When I visited Murnau’s grave, for the photo shoot to the CD, I was focused on getting the photos but hadn’t intended on capturing field recordings at the same time. I’d already compiled field recordings taken at the former Murnau house in Berlin, which coincidentally happens to be right in my neighborhood. In addition to that, I’d painstakingly searched for specific samples corresponding to the exact years of Murnau’s creative life and his death, such as the sound of the precise year and make of the car he was in when it crashed, leading to his death. Or a snippet of a song that would’ve been popular at parties in Hollywood that he may have attended. Things like that.
Back album art of BMTHOFWM. Photo of Zeena at F. W. Murnau’s grave by Lance Anderson
So, getting back to the cemetery field recordings: It was only by fluke, while taking photos at Murnau’s grave, that my camera accidentally engaged the video record. It wasn’t until later that day, when downloading my data from the day’s shoot, I realized I’d inadvertently gotten some unexpected and pretty interesting sounds while at the grave. Luckily, there was still time to mix those in before the final edit and mastering. For some unknown reason, I’ve always had strange energy clashes with electronic devices; something’s always malfunctioning with them in my case. I’ve come to expect these ‘accidental’ recordings of environment sounds, with both my audio recorder and my cameras video setting. Whenever it happens, I always discover something interesting, humorous or just uncanny and bizarre that gets added to my sound library. This reveals how much is occurring all the time that we humans normally filter out but which, when cut out of the normal flow of everyday life, can be wonderful auditory meditations. I’m sure that those unexpected sounds at the cemetery made a difference in enhancing an underlying eerie quality to the whole thing.”5
Zeena’s field recordings directly tie into her concept of “sonic necromancy.” These field recordings she gathered communicate an additional essence of Murnau that would not have been present otherwise:
“Sound art differs from conventionally composed music in that soundscapes are generally thought to be like paintings done with sound rather than matter. They may or may not necessarily tell a story. In this case, however, there is story. Between many years of magical ritual practices, as well as early-life theater and film training, which includes techniques in character development, sense memory and improvisation, a fusion of disciplined training in all these areas creates conducive conditions for summoning of the dead. While my magical training and ritual experience is probably more generally acknowledged than my theater training, I mention the latter only in relation to this music project because I’m playing various characters or roles throughout. Whether we are hearing Murnau’s own thoughts in the opening and closing tracks, or the female Angel of Death who’s come to usher Murnau away from this worldly experience, or the ‘bardo beings’ who inhabit the intermediate state between the end of one life and the beginning of the next. All of those voices are different characters revealing different levels of metaphysical existence and understanding.”6
If BMTHOFWM sounds like a multifaceted release, it is because it certainly is. Though the EP only contains six tracks and clocks in at roughly eighteen minutes, it is compact in its sound design, atmosphere, and ambitious scope.
The first track of the EP, “Letter to Mother,” has Zeena reciting a letter Murnau wrote to his mother against a background of crashing waves. In this track, Zeena channels her aforementioned acting chops, mimicking a deeper voice that would be Muranu. It is a somber recital that sets a melancholy mood that permeates the release.
Track two, “Ill Omens,” runs with this melancholy with a peppering of something menacing or foreboding. It is a track that is minimal on sound, but high on atmosphere. Closing one’s eyes, one can picture an old film with a scene of tiptoeing through a cave or a dimly lit forest, illuminated day-for-night style, while a Harryhausen-esque monster waiting to emerge from the shadows.
The third track, “A Drive up the Coast,” chronicles the last moments of Murnau as he died in an auto accident while traversing the Pacific Coast Highway near Santa Barbara in 1931. The track begins jovial, with organ music composed by Zeena that evokes a funfair or a period appropriate party in the background. Sounds of an open car window woosh by before (spoiler alert!) the sounds of accelerations, followed by a scream, tires screeching, and a crash.
Track four, “Tabu,” is a reference to Murnau’s final film, Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931) that was released shortly after his death. An early tiki film, the story depicts two lovers, Reri and Matahi, as they try to escape Reri’s fate of being made into a sacred maiden for their island’s deities. The first half of the song is the most industrial-sounding music on the EP, with some minimalist piston-percussions. The last half of the song switches gears to the exotica genre, with primitive drumming and shakers, that channels the likes of Martin Denny and Les Baxter. Over the music, Zeena, reaching into her experience of performing incantations, recites the same decree that was uttered in Tabu that denoted Reri as forbidden, and not to be touched by any man.
“The Phantom Bridge” is the EP’s fifth track and this one digs right into the vampiric roots Murnau is best known for. A spoken word track, Zeena recites some of the inter titles from Murnau’s Nosferatu which in turn were taken from Stoker’s Dracula. The music in this track is, as the title suggests, ghostly, with spirituals wisps, shackling noises, tiny bells and chimes.
The EP’s final track, “Endlich Daheim,” is perhaps the most ambitious track on the album, that not only underscores Murnau’s career, but demonstrates Zeena at her most artistic. Prior songs on the EP has Zeena reciting texts from other sources while “Endlich Daheim” contains both original organ music and lyrics by Zeena, sung in a haunting and beautiful style. A sound of a 1920s projector starting up beings the track with the music proper evoking the feelings of being at a funeral – Murnau’s funeral – with Zeena’s poetry acting as a eulogy.
Zeena at F. W. Murnau’s grave by Lance Anderson.
The end result is that BMTHOFWM is a superb solo debut for Zeena and an excellent experimental release all around. Atmospheric, haunting, and magical, but also cinematic and fully versed in filmic pop culture that it celebrates. Born from a macabre act of stealing the skull of Murnau, the EP easily could’ve embraced grotesquery or morbidness, but instead the CD comes off as sincere. Aside from these observations, Zeena herself had her own goals for the release:
“Well, after a few years of unexpected obstacles, as well as unexpected serendipitous occurrences which led to creating much more material for this than I’d originally planned, I guess the main thing I wanted to accomplish was getting it completed at all! Jokes aside, the fact is, there’s still someone out there who has taken and kept the skull from Murnau’s grave. This is at the heart of the project. I wanted to pull all of the unusual elements surrounding this case together into one cohesive creative expression. The music in this project is created to facilitate opening the mind to all possible questions surrounding that event, and even to, on a transcendental and metaphysical level, provide even bigger answers.”7
Five years after the act, the mystery of who absconded with Murnau’s skull remains unsolved. Of course, thoughts have drifted to Schreck as a possible culprit, which she both playfully and adamantly dismisses: “[S]ince many have already jokingly asked me – let’s nip this in the bud right here – NO, it wasn’t me!”8
Artistic composition of Zeena.
Sincere thanks for Zeena Schreck for allowing me to interview her for this writeup and providing the images. All images used in this article are copyrighted by Zeena Schreck and used with permission. More information about Zeena and her projects can be found at the following websites and social medias:
Nigel M Smith, “Nosferatu director’s head stolen from grave in Germany,” The Guardian, last modified July 14, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/14/nosferatu-director-head-stolen-germany-grave-fw-murnau.
“Coming Soon From Zeena Schreck: Bring Me The Head of F.W. Murnau,” Heathen Harvest, last modified July 21, 2015, https://heathenharvest.wordpress.com/2015/07/21/coming-soon-from-zeena-schreck-bring-me-the-head-of-f-w-murnau/.
Zeena Schreck, email message to author, June 16, 2020.
Schreck, Zeena. Bring me the Head of F. W. Murnau. KCH KCHCD01. 2020. CD.
Smith, Nigel M. “Nosferatu director’s head stolen from grave in Germany.” The Guardian. Last modified July 14, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/14/nosferatu-director-head-stolen-germany-grave-fw-murnau.
I received an email from my editor that the Gladiator book’s manuscript is finally in the publisher’s hands. This is fantastic news. It’s looking more optimistic that the book will be published next year and my essay, “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling,” will finally be unleashed upon the world. This is my second major contribution to peplum scholarship and I am extremely excited for this essay.
Cats: A Companion
Simon Bacon has submitted a proposal off to some publishers for a book called Cats: A Companion:
If the book gets a green light, then I’ll be contributing an essay about cats in pepla, so get ready lots of movies about lions in the arena!
General Neo-Peplum News
Horns Ablaze Magazine
Hal C. F. Astell has launched a new digital magazine called Horns Ablaze that collects his metal reviews at his Apocalypse Later website. Issue #0 is available in PDF format and contained reviews for Viking metal albums such as Enslaved’s Caravans to the Outer Worlds, Nidhoeggr’s Arise, and Aexylium’s The Fifth Season. Bonus: there’s even an advert for our own H. P. Lovecast Podcast in the magazine!
This episode is a little different. Michele and I have been inundated with lots of projects which took up the month of November. To accommodate this, we’ve decided to spread our 80s month over November and December and push our programming back a month. However, we took the opportunity to talk about all the various projects we are doing (NanoWriMo, AnnRadCon, MAPACA, etc.). It’s not often we get to talk about our selves and what we are working on, so here is a nice opportunity we made for ourselves. The episode can be streamed at our BuzzSprout website or via your podcast app of preference.
MAPACA Conference – Vikings/Acylum Presentation
This past week was the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association Conference. I gave a presentation titled “Victory Or Valhalla: Violence via Vikings Sampling in Acylum’s Kampf Dem Verderb.” The presentation continues the same scholarship from my Gladiator/industrial music sampling essay (that is to be published in 2022).
I am not 100% sure what I am going to do with this presentation. It’s really reduced to fit in the 15 minute timeframe, so I am thinking about overhauling it and getting it to proper essay length and submitting it to a journal. For now though, I’ve recorded a version of it and uploaded it to YouTube (unlisted) for the time being. Feel free to watch and let me know of any feedback!
General Neo-Peplum News
Recent Acquisitions
A few years late and a dollar short, but I finally got my paws on a copy of the Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey art book.
