auroch

H.P. Lovecraft. The American horror/”weird-fiction” author does not usually bring to mind thoughts of death metal rockers; but then, not many Victorian writers usually do.

Perhaps it’s the allure of forbidden knowledge–a theme all too present in Lovecraft’s work– that drew the members of Auroch together in Vancouver. Perhaps the rainy atmosphere of the city, combined with the dark, underlying layers in Lovecraft’s writing were meant to inspire the resonating sounds of grind metal that Auroch produces.

From Forgotten Worlds, the debut album of these rockers, draws more inspiration than ever from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. He is a favourite of the band, and is more than just thrash metal. What we are presented with in this album is the mythos itself, and the entire album serves as an anthem.

When the opening riffs of Slaves To A Flame Undying unleash themselves from your speakers, you are suddenly in a new world, a world that is raw and relentless, a world than can be dark and not so easy to navigate. You must pick your way through the album on your own, song by song, until you stumble to the end, your head still spinning.

It is writing turned into music, and it is a thank-you to mythologies and ideologies; it is ancient and old and rumbling, and each song is careful to place the screaming guitar riffs and scratchy wails where they belong. The order, of course, the creation of each song is right and perfect. It can’t be any other way.

What is this album if not a full-blown ode to Lovecraft, his weird fiction, and the Ancient Ones? If you don’t normally jump into heavy stuff, take a peek, grab a tiny earful of the metal and let it take you over.

And maybe, just maybe, at the end of the first note, you’ll be taken. And maybe at the end of the first song, you’ll be Auroch’s. And they will take you on a journey, and they’ll you what they see. And maybe, just maybe, when you’re done taking the heavy bruising from the album, you’ll be running to the library, into the wings of Cthulhu, which will take you from the arms of Auroch and their gorgeous guitars, and show you the mythos.

By Sofia Mikhaylova