The Devil Rides In - Spellbinding Satanic Magick & The Rockult 1966-1974

The late 60s and early 70s may have been the Age of Aquarius, but underneath the peace that ruled the planet and love that steered the stars, a dark side to the hippie fascination with the occult cut a shadowy swath across the eras music. Devil Rides In: Spellbinding Satanic Magick & the Rockult 1967-1974 captures that movement with three discs of songs that go much deeper than Creedence Clearwater Revivals "Bad Moon Rising" or the Crazy World of Arthur Browns "Fire" (though that bands jazzy, relatively subdued "Devils Grip" appears here). Devil Rides In kicks off with the glowering hard rock and fantastical prog that are the occults natural familiars. A bellowing organ and Paul Rodgers searing vocals ignite Frees "Seven Angels," setting the template for supernatural rock for years to come; "Magic Potion," a bad trip from 1969 courtesy of the Open Mind, sounds very much of its time, but its stygian riffs foreshadow Black Sabbaths imminent rise. On "White Hammer," Van Der Graaf Generator gets historical, alluding to the 15th century witchcraft and demonology treatise Malleus Maleficarum as they wage a war between good and evil fueled by their majestic keyboards. Not all of the songs deal in fire and brimstone: The white magic imagery on Argents "Dance in the Smoke" suggests the moments just before hippie utopia goes wrong, a feeling echoed by The Wicker Man-like mood of Genesis "One-Eyed Hound" and later by the rural harmonies and pedal steel of Mighty Babys "Devils Whisper." Disc twos focus on mod rock and psych-pop conjures visions of Old Scratch setting up shop in Swinging London with "Talk of the Devil," a piece of coolly stylish menace from Elmer Gantrys Velvet Opera, and "The Devil Rides Out," Icarus groovy, flute-driven tribute to the Prince of Darkness. The Creations "Nightmares" and the Moves "Night of Fear" are as spooky as they are playful, adding a welcome dose of trippy mischief to the set. Devil Rides In digs into wild-eyed folk (Jethro Tulls "The Witchs Promise," Comus "The Bite"), hallucinatory jazz-pop (Manfred Mann Chapter Threes "Devil Woman") and diabolical funk (Curtis Knight & Zeus "The Devil Made Me Do It") before closing with more infernal rock like the possessed wails of Jason Crests "Black Mass," the theatrical rites of Black Widows "Come to the Sabbat," and the strafing proto-metal of "Ride the Sky" by Lucifers Friend, a band that makes the trumpet sound as devilish as the guitar. Like all Cherry Red compilations, Devil Rides In is lovingly curated and offers surprises even for listeners who think they know the eras music well. In this case, its Italian prog-rockers Jacula, whose seance-like "Long Black Magic Night" plays like a miniature Dario Argento soundtrack and makes for the collections most genuinely scary song. As it reflects the underbelly of flower child idealism, Devil Rides In: Spellbinding Satanic Magick & the Rockult 1967-1974s sampling of the surprisingly numerous kinds of occult rock casts a bewitching spell. ~ Heather Phares