AMN Reviews: Various Artists – Witchcraft And Black Magic In The United States (2024; Eighth Tower Records)

The United States is an enigma. We are a world leader in science, yet we are awash in superstition. A sizable portion of our population is prone to believing in blatant misinformation and engaging in hypocrisy. Our so-called “rugged individualism” is a marked outlier amongst world cultures. This unique psychological myth leads us to value ourselves in terms of the capital that we produce and control, and is often used to justify abject cruelty. Our leaders tout “freedom” but we have always been and we remain a caste system in which certain individuals and groups have far less freedom than others.

These contradictions are not new – they have been carved in the American DNA going back centuries. Waves of gullibility, religiosity, irrationality, and panic are littered throughout the last 400 years of our history. One of the most well-known is the Salem Witch Trials, but there were many others.

Witchcraft And Black Magic In The United States is an exploration of related concepts by a lineup of musicians who employ experimental ambient techniques. These 11 tracks, each roughly in the 5-7 minute range, include slow-moving drones, acousmatic elements, and odd vocalizations. While some artists are from the United States, others are not.

The album begins auspiciously enough by referencing Salem in The Ballad of Goody Ayres by Mark Hjorthoy. It includes an unsettling, oscillating tone accompanied by primitive chants as well as sporadic crunchy drones. On the other hand, Rapoon’s Footsteps in the Ash is based on tuned percussion and wandering lines of bassy synth. A few fragments of voice creep into the mix.

Michael Grunditz’s Shadows of Delusion uses deep voice-like drones with foreground effects that sound as if a chorus from Hell has taken over an abandoned ruin. On It Comes with the Fall, Mario Lino Stancati provides a busy sonic architecture with a cracking substrate, haunting and tormented vocalizations, and synth moving in and out of the foreground.

Also included are a pair of dark ambient recordings from Vyormouth and the duo of Morgen Wurde and David Strother. The former is darker and features ritual percussion toward its end. The latter is airy and includes abstract violin passages from Strother.

All said, if the goal of these tracks is to provide spooky soundscapes, they have accomplished their mission. With some exceptions such as the Stancati piece, Witchcraft And Black Magic In The United States does not elicit terror per se – its atmospheres are chilling rather than shocking.

Perhaps this compilation reflects a more enlightened view of the horror genre. Even here in the United States, there has been a growing reappropriation of superstition away from its Machiavellian uses and toward – for lack of a better word – fun. One can approach modern horror works from a skeptical point of view and still appreciate them as art (though with a few obligatory chills down your back).

This is not unlike how many of us approach experimental ambient, drone, and post-industrial music. The darkness is a compelling factor that somehow manages to be uplifting.

In any event, Witchcraft And Black Magic In The United States can serve the above purpose as well as potentially many others. It is an excellent collection and comes highly recommended.