HORUS CyclicDaemon (HCD) is an independent Czech record label created in 2000 as a part of the HORUS publishing company (founded in 1990). Focusing on everything that can be described as nova et rara (new and rare), HCD has become known for its quality releases with premium packaging.
NEW RELEASE:
SILENCE & STRENGTH: Das Haus zur letzten Latern - A Tribute to Gustav Meyrink (HCD 10) ... just out!
The new album by Silence & Strength has been in the making for almost 5 years, as some early pieces have been written already in 2004, being composed and recorded in various locations and conditions. This monumental work realized in an album of 13 tracks and 77 minutes constitutes an impressive narrative, which opens up a door to the magical worlds of Gustav Meyrink.
Starting with evocative pieces based on some of Meyrink's short stories the album takes us through the myriad of states and emotions - the menacing and liquid "Cardinal Napellus", the moody and unsettling "Four Moon Brothers", the decadent and poisonous "Ball Macabre", the enchanting "Opal" and so on.
One of the most expressive and dramatic tracks is "Walpurgisnacht". Combining acoustic and electronic sounds, shrieking pipes and a beat of the devilish drum, it conjures up the memories of bloody revolts and phantasmagoric affairs.
The longest composition on the album is based upon one of Meyrink's most acclaimed novels - "Der Golem". Ranging over 18 minutes it takes us on a fascinating journey through the darkened streets of Old Prague. From the bone-chilling rain and menacing ambience of the narrow, cobble-stone alleys, through the tiny rooms of misshapen houses where the early bohemians sing rowdy chansons, to the attic of Staronova Synagogue, which serves as a secret dwelling place of the mysterious Golem, and back again into a sleazy tavern with an aged hebrew harpist wheezing through a long-forgotten song, then finally to the gates of the House at the Last Light where the alchemical hermaphrodite unites the hero and his beloved in a magical union.
The journey continues, through the raucous "Green Face", the beautiful and melodic "White Dominican", to the meditative and conclusive "Angel of West Window". The album ends there, but it leaves us with a precious aftertaste and a strong desire to plunge deeper into the majestic realm of Gustav Meyrink, read his works and share his dreams.
Gustav Meyrink has long attracted readers for his masterful stories, examining the supernatural, the macabre, the spiritual, and the occult. With complex and ambitious novels, such as "The Golem", "The Green Face", "The Angel of the West Window", and "The White Dominican" Meyrink intertwines past and present, dreams and visions, myth and reality in a world of the occult, culminating in the transmutation of physical reality into a higher spiritual existence.
Silence & Strength is a project created by a talented Israeli musician Stephan Friedman. Interfusing noise, drone, glitch and experimental dark ambient he creates soundscapes in a highly structured and ritualistic way. Secret musical spaces of Silence & Strength will enchant those who feel that there is too little sound magic around them and who want to know it all. After producing two successful tribute albums to Le Comte de Cagliostro (2005) and Theophrastus Paracelsus (2006), Silence & Strength has embarked on the most ambitious project yet: Das Haus zur letzten Latern - A Tribute to Gustav Meyrink. It is the project's first official release on HORUS CyclicDaemon.
The mastering services were provided by iSoundwave, a highly professional mastering studio in Tel-Aviv, Israel.
The album was released on All Fool's Day 2009 in limited edition of 500 hand-numbered copies, on top-notch quality art-paper (green Alezan CRO 300g and recycled grey Eko 200g), A5 oversized 8-pages booklet with the tradditional A5 envelope, CD housed in a paper sleeve.
Artwork and design by John Coulthart.
Previous release:
CHAOTICUM: [Psycho] Log: Y (HCD 09)
Weaving madness through electric sound and half-crazed vocals, this first full-length release from CHAOTICUM unveils the initial peering beyond the shroud of uncertainty into the gaping night, calling to mind the powerful ritual works of Coph Nia, and the sublime melodies and haunting atmosphere of The Unquiet Viod.
Never fearing to experiment with new ideas, CHAOTICUM fuses together a plethora of dark genres, veering back and forth somewhere between order and chaos, to craft this first foray out of the curse'd lies of the light and into the black abyss of awareness. Will you make the journey? Do you hope to return? Then listen and remember... for destruction is the only true beginning, and stagnation the only death.
Included in the track list are two songs »The Calling of Cthulhu« and »Esoteric Order of Dagon«, musickal scenes inspired by the mad writings of H. P. Lovecraft, in addition to other break-through pieces and favourites such as »Ancient Hollow« and the neoclassical masterpiece »Tykie-Soo«.
So lie back, put on the headphones, and travel deep into the swirling vortex of madness and sound, for CHAOTICUM is not to be missed... or taken lightly.
Created to be »cultured« electronica, this first release by masters of »nova et rara« CHAOTICUM will appeal to listeners of ritualistic dark ambient, voyagers of haunting psychedelic mindscapes, and chaos practitioners alike.
Comes in a very exclusive 500 limited-edition digipak, with artwork designed by renowned artist John Coulthart on Rives Tradition 320g/170g papers; includes extra pocket with poster.
More pictures & info at www.horus.cz .
TRAILER:
The CHAOTICUM trailer has been added to Video Section. The track Tykie-Soo comes from the Chaoticum album entitled [Psycho] Log: Y released by HORUS CyclicDaemon label in 2007. The trailer was designed by Jerome Nougaillon at Panopticon Studio in January 2008.
OSSASERPIA: Music For Solve et Coagula (HCD 08)
Vladimir Igoshin (Ossaserpia) has created Opus alchymicum, spectacular account of the »work« of the musickal alchemists who developed a symbolic kind of psychochemistry, aimed at producing the gold of mystical illumination through celestial musick. See theories by Robert Fludd and Rosicrucian theories of the monochord.
Very unique melancholy drone chamber musick with some strange industrial elements. Vladimir Igoshin is known for his contributions to HCD compilations such as Lust From The Underworld and/or AL: 100th Anniversary.
Special art-works designed by outstanding Madeline von Foerster !
The opus consists of pressed CD in paper sleeve with impression; 16-pages A5 hard-bound book with impression on the cover, equipped with flyleafs at the front and the back including printed alchemical symbols; 6 alchemical graphics by Madeline von Foerster with an overlays; A3 poster with explanatory text to each alchemical graphic, and impression again; embossed CD sleeve-jacket. Packed in PVC sheet.
Top-notch papers used for all items again. Limited edition of oversized hard-bound book is covered with rustish Quilt 120g paper. The flyleafs and inner pages are printed on Gmund Kaschmir cream 170g. CD sleeve-jacket and poster are made of Quilt 120g paper.
Very rare print for all occult fans of musick & alchemy!
Previous releases:
CHAOTICUM: [Psycho] Log: Y (HCD 09)
OSSASERPIA: Music For Solve et Coagula (HCD 08)
VARIOUS ARTISTS: AL: 100th Anniversary (HCD XXXI)
K. MEIZTER: Travelling Light (HCD 07)
MUSTERION: The Black Lodge (HCD 06)
RORICAT: Uki Uki (HCD 05)
THIS MORN' OMINA: Taiu (HCD 04)
THIS MORN' OMINA: Em Sauf Haa-Heru (HCD 03)
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Lust From The Underworld (HCD 02)
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Chaos (HCD 01)