9.4.08

Tentacle Metal

I mentioned my interest in the Cthulhu Mythos before, and I'd like to elaborate a bit on it in this post. In the 1920's there was an American writer who went by the name of H.P. Lovecraft. As someone who was regularly ill, he was confined to his house a lot which led him to start writing. He wrote horror stories that got published in several pulp magazines at that time. He also maintained an active correspondence with other writers about the universe he created through his stories. This universe was a mirror image the world we know with the profound difference that alien beings roamed the galaxies since the dawn of time and came to earth ever since it was created. On our earth they created large cities and civilizations and waged war on each other. Since the dawning of man, they have been lying dormant waiting till the stars are right for them to rise again.Cthulhu with the city R'lyeh in the background.Image via Wikipedia

Now, when we are talking about alien beings, we're not talking about your regular Hollywood-type, humanoid alien, but about truly alien organisms. Think tentacles, interdimensionality, time travel, tentacles, slime, avatars, non-euclidean spaces, and some more tentacles. Among these alien beings, there were "Great Old Ones". Unique, and often gargantuan, creatures with an intelligence (and an agenda) far beyond the comprehension of men. The most famous of these Great Old Ones is without a doubt Cthulhu. He is in fact so iconic for this Lovecraftian universe that it is commonly referred to as the "Cthulhu Mythos" (which wasn't a term invented by Lovecraft, by the way, but by one of his followers).

Apparently, I'm not the only one with an interest in the Cthulhu Mythos. As it is an inspiration for several metal bands as well. Some only refer to Cthulhu himself, like in some of the following songs:Others take a different road and write songs about the Great Old Ones in general, as in these:
And these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. There are definitely more bands with a Cthulhu Mythos theme out there and when I come across them, I'll list them on my blog. If you have any good tentacle metal references, I'll be happy to hear about them.

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