INFINITE SPECTRUM – Haunter Of The Dark (2016)
“Haunter Of The Dark” is the title of the new album from NYC progressive combo INFINITE SPECTRUM, a concept work that is influenced by the H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same name.
Lovecraft and his mystical and mythical cosmology has been some fascination with bands, from hard rock to heavy metal to progressive metal, for sometime. But then again horror, fantasy, and sci-fi themes have always been the staple of the same for years.
So here’s Infinite Spectrum and their second album, “Haunter Of The Dark”, based on a Lovecraft (rather) short story about weird tales writer Robert Blake’s fascination with a mysterious, and forbidden, church in his town of Providence, Rhode Island. (You can read the plot summary from Wikipedia)
The challenges with a musical adaptation of a literary piece are manifold. Get the storyline right. In other words, tell the tale the author told, not the one you “think” he’s telling. Give the people within the story a proper voice. Draw from the description and dialogue for your lyrics. And perhaps of most importance: somehow communicate, by example, character emotion, suspense of a scene, the drama of conflict, and so on.
Well, Infinite Spectrum pretty much nails all these things. They stuck to the story, drew heavily upon the text to tell the musical tale, and crafted music to generate appropriate atmosphere and direction.
The centerpiece of the album is likely the song, in five parts, ‘The Church’, where our protagonist begins exploring the creepy place. In the center with ‘The Ascent’, climbing up, there’s an obvious sense emotion, both wonder and dread. Both in the music and vocals is restless and quick in the ascent and anticipation. Yet it levels off at the end in a long instrumental.
Part four follows with ‘The Shining Trapezohedron’, a song about the demon summoning device. Here the music has a nearly chaotic, prog metal meets fusion swirl, as our hero examines the arcane object.
For another example, consider the title track, ‘Haunter Of The Dark’, wherein the release of the demon is given musical treatment with heavier prog metal, spiked with drama and dread, as the beast is upon us.
With the following ‘Fear’, the suspense of impending horror and the agitated state that fear can cause is developed through the rumble of equally agitated rhythm and drumming.
Suffice to say, one could elaborate on everything here, but I think you get the sense of what’s happening.
But none of this would work as well as it does without vocalist Will Severin’s both melodic and convincing style giving voice to the emotions of the principal actor in the story.
Additionally, speaking generally of Infinite Spectrum’s music: this is very good progressive rock and metal with a strong keyboard presence and an abundance of guitar solos. In the end, what the band and this album reminded me of is what would happen if Leftoverture-era Kansas went darker & heavier, indeed exploring Lovecraft themselves. It’s an odd comparison, but I think it fits.
Infinite Spectrum’s “Haunter Of The Dark” is massive and engaging, and a very significant accomplishment for the band. If you dig progressive metal with melody, and both musically creative and intellectually viable, you need to check out this album.
01 – Prologue: Providence, Winter, 1934
02 – Federal Hill
03 – The Calling
04 – The Church
I: Dark Whispers
II: Entry
III: The Ascent
IV: The Shining Trapezohedron
V: Spectres
05 – The Stranger Things I’ve Learned
06 – Haunter Of The Dark
07 – Fear
08 – All That We See
09 – 2:12 AM
10 – Epilogue: Providence, Summer, 1935
Will Severin – Vocals
Alex Raykin – Guitars & Backup Vocals
Alex Repetti – Bass & Backup Vocals
Greg Schwab – Drums
Katie Pachnos – Keyboards & Backup Vocals
BUY IT !
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