The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets
The Shadow Out of Tim
Divine Industries
A concept album! An amazing collection of joyously whacko rock from another new favourite Vancouver band for all of us to collapse before, weeping in abject joy. It would seem as if the deepest boroughs of the Lower Mainland (namely Abbotsford) continue to show Vancouverites how thoughtful, whimsical, and powerful prog-pop can be, and few Canadian bands can stand up to The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets when it comes to that stuff. The albums theme and concept deals with an unwitting marine biologist raising Lovecraftian horrors from the blackened depths of the sea
I think. The research ship gets hijacked by cultists off the coast of New Zealand, people die horribly, minds are lost to the madness of the interstellar gulfs, yeti appear; all sorts of good shit if you ever read Clark Ashton Smith fantasies while you played Greenslade in the background. Theres even a song of Cthulhu mythos (Nyarlathotep, of course) sung in Im-not-kidding Middle Egyptian! Jesus. A handy glossary of unfamiliar terms caps off the lyric sheet; helpful, these Thickets. Just when I think theres nothing left in rock, I get reawakened and hope burns anew. And I havent even started in on these guys unparalleled live show. Enjoy this album.
-Ferdy Belland
Dukes of AlHazred
