Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s “Shadow Over Innsmouth” and the film “Dagon,” The Unquiet Void’s “Poisoned Dreams” CD album offers its interpretation to the peculiarly Lovecraftian fear of being consumed by the mysterious depths of the sea. Released under the specialty label Middle Pillar Presents, whose slogan is “Ethereal, Dark Ambient and Experimental,” The Unquiet Void tackles the thematic and sonic challenge creating a listenable, albeit very specific vision meditation on its namesake. The Unquiet Void utilizes a rich array of samples combined with a driving, ambient musical story or narrative. It takes the form of a listener’s journey through themes that would be familiar to those already conversant with the intertwining Lovecraftian concepts of transformation/annihilation. Taken in sequence, the CD album consists of eight tracks ranging from five to almost fifteen minutes in length, and captures the mood without getting too lost in its own self-referential mythology.

Early in the second track, entitled “Cyclopean Monolith,” you set forth with a dreamy and nightmarish approach to the mythic City of R’lyeh. The third track, Necronomicon,” is named after the book that launched a thousand songs and films—but of all the tracks this one feels the most out of place when considering the album as a whole. It has its merits as a standalone track, but threatens to break the flow. “Return to Innsmouth” is where the story seems to regain its syndactyly footing and draws the listener in with a similar pulse to the previous track, except it gradually builds in complexity with a sonic pay-off that seems to lead somewhere. The next track, called “The Esoteric Order,” provides a familiar chanting refrain, repeated as a counter-point to the thumping of a drum, which is steady and relentless. (As the song progresses, it’s easy to imagine a coven of cultists communing with the master of R’lyeh.) It branches directly to the aptly titled “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” This sixth track is the only piece named after an actual H.P. Lovecraft story and culminates with a memorable, almost-angelic, but also very effective and subtle use of choral sampling. “We Shall Go Down Through Black Abysses” is my favorite and is easily the most cinematic in scope, comparing well against some of the better television and film themes. Finally, there is “R’lyeh Risen.” Keening and warbling in its first few minutes, it builds with an almost a military backbeat ending with a steady dissolution of…everything!

This is for those who appreciate and enjoy the Cthulhu Mythos, not because it is “a spooky soundtrack,” but rather because it offers an aural reminder of why H.P. Lovecraft’s stories stood the test of time and how his ideas continue to offer a rich vein of ideas.