Their was a time when the fant of heart or tender of ear could play off the accomplishments of The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets with a laugh. “Oh wow, a rock band from Canada that plays songs about the Cthulhu Mythos, that’s really amusing.” As of the release of their new Cd, Cthulhu Strikes Back, that time has passed.

If you have never experienced The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, this album will shock you, guaranteed. Cthulhu Mythos disciples who have heard about the band from publications like this one will be amazed that such die-hard cultists would take so much time away from their orgies and ritual sacrifice to learn how to really play their instruments. The [Darkest of the Hillside] Thickets CAN play, and their song-writing skills have advanced considerably since their last album, Cthulhuriffomania! (now out of print). Those who have discovered this band because of their music instead of their ethos will be equally dumbfounded by their relent- less dedication to the noble purpose of preparing the Earth for Cthulhu’s glorious return. For listeners who are enthralled both by Lovecraft’s stories and by catchy pop- punk noise-rock, Cthulhu Strikes Back might be sufficient impetus to run screaming naked into the street to light things on fire.

Lyrically, the overriding message is: They’re serious. Humor is, of course, still a major ingredient in The [Darkest of the Hillside] Thickets’ mix: there’s a song about dropping shoggoths from a B-17 onto an unsuspecting public, and singer Toren Atkinson does an all-out Elvis impression on “Yig Snake Daddy.” However, the album also contains several moments that are genuinely disturbing. In “Unstoppable,” Toren rants about having his mind forcibly opened by the Great Old Ones; “Cthulhu Dreams” is as earnest and inspiring a sermon on the Cthulhu Mythos as I’ve ever heard; and “HVW,” well, you’d have to hear that one to believe it. The lyrics really are what sets this band apart, and they are printed on the inside of the CD package, making this album worth buying even if you don’t enjoy the music. My favorite rhyme is “invisible mass” and “fissuring gas.”

The packaging is professionally slick and the cover art is very humorous (I won’t spoil the surprise) but the production, also professionally slick, is perhaps my only complaint. I’ve heard that this band is a truly awesome spectacle in live performance, but it’s kind of hard to tell from the smooth, radio-friendly way in which Cthulhu Strikes Back was recorded. I admit that this is a matter of personal taste, and the songs themselves are so intense that in my opinion they overcome this fault throughout most of the album anyway.

Buy this CD, support this band. You’ll wonder how you worshipped Cthulhu without it. 10 screaming, itching phobias [out of 10] for this puppy and a quote from “Protein” to wrap this review up:

“I had a dream the crawling chaos said. ‘I need for you to fill everyone with lead’ He filled me up with protein, I gave the magic sign He gave me x-ray vision and now the world is mine

Yes, yes yes

– Christian Klepac, THE UNSPEAKABLE OATH, Issue 14/15 1997

Another strong disc in both appearance and music. These guys are both intelligent and creative. I would recommend this album to any band thinking of doing an independent release. The entire package is very classy and it is obvious to me that it will only be a matter of time before these guys are going to make it big.

Major labels today don’t just look for a certain image (with the exception of a few artists) or music alone. They want the whole package. That is what I see in The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. This is a band that owns their own publishing and merchandising rights, runs their own fan club, and does their own distributions, publicity, and mail-outs. This is in addition to a busy schedule of writing, rehearsing, recording, and performing.

So, now that I’ve gone off about what a total package this band is, why not drop by their web site to hear samples of their music for yourself. You’ll also find exciting graphics from this album and others as well excerpts from their newsletter. You’ll leave wondering why the band wants a major label deal at all?

If you want to take my word for it and order Cthulhu Strikes Back right away, send $10 to: The People of Innsmouth
– unknown, May 1996

Four guys who really dig H. P. Lovecraft (“Without whom we’d be singing lame love songs”, the liners say) and, obviously Star Wars. I can empathize.

The music is highly-polished punk-pop harmonized stuff, rather addictive and astonishingly accessible. And, much like a Christian rock band, there are notes on each song telling us what Lovecraft story (or merely a pithy paragraph on pretty much nothing) that we should read to understand the lyrics.

The packaging is dead on, and the music is simply divine. This is fun cubed. Really. If you have this, then play it. If you don’t you simply must find it. Darkest of the Hillside Thickets must be heard to be believed. And once the sonic force has cruised your ear, then nothing can be done. The invasion is complete and you are helpless. That’s how these things get started, anyway.
– J. Worley, AIDING AND ABETTING The Independent Label Music Resource Vol. IV, No. 18 August 14 1995

As intriguing as Darkest Etc. are, the one glaring flaw in their, um oeuvre could be the fatal one, which is that the music is not distinctive or memorable enough to support the lyrical or visual concepts. The graphics for this indie CD are stunning, the packaging striking and the inspiration behind the songs — no other band has drawn from the language and psychological horrorscapes of H. P. Lovecraft since the late ’60s group of the same name — original enough to build a cult as sustainable as that of Hawkwind. But these things are the features, not the framework, which has to be stronger. Three stars.
– Tom Harrison, THE VANCOUVER PROVINCE, PreView Music section, Friday September 8, 1995

Basing their musical careers on the authorial works of the wondrous H. P. Lovecraft (and their packaging on the creations of George Lucas), TDOTHT are a Canadian quartet that manage to knock out many a mighty tune on this excruciatingly entertaining fifteen track CD. With its guitar oriented rockypunk sound, TDOTHT may be too “happy” sounding for many of youse, but fans of the moronic and Lovecraftian lore alike will surely be in awe of the quality of Dunwichs, Nyarlathoteps, and Necronomicon-isms presented here – my favorites being “Ogdru Jahad”, “Shoggoths Away”, and the Dread Zeppelin-y “Yig Snake Daddy”. Ah but TDOTHT know that a band cannot live by Lovecraft alone, hence we have even less intelligent tracks dealing with both monster toys (“Rock Lords”) and squirming invertabrates (“Hookworm”, “Burrow Your Way to My Heart). Not only do these boys utilize props and costumes in their live show ala Gwar/Green Jelly, but they carry a shitload of merchandise including toques (Canadian remember), calendars,
– Geri Nible, ILL-LITERATURE

Best packaging of the year goes to Darkest of the Hillside Thickets for their Cthulhu Strikes Back CD. The front cover has the Empire Strikes Back logo done perfecto to a ‘t’. Open it up and see the song lyrics superimposed over various cosmos. In the middle is the CD itself, safe and comfy. When the CD is taken out there is further mind-warping cosmos. There is lettering underneath zooming at you exactly like the Star Wars intro narration. Close the casing up, which, by the way, has a nice, smooth feel; no cost spared. Turn the package over and you get to see what the band looks like. They are physically altered to look like Star Wars characters from a Star Wars promo shot. Luke, Obi, Han, Chewbacca. this is done with a marvellous painting that has the quality of a realistic movie poster. I commend the artist (it says that his name is Chris “Chappy” Woods), because this is perfect! Now, how does it sound? Um, well, it’s pretty generic and dull metal, but the packaging is is incredible and the song ideas are great! There are songs based on ‘Rock Lords’ and much H. P. Lovecraft stuff. Ya, the lyrics are dumb, but the packaging! Okay, I liked the 11-minute art metal instrumental called Cthulhu Dreams. My friend Lester told me that Rudimentary Peni has done the whole Cthulhu thing better as a concept album, but can they equal this fine packaging? What a real packaging idea! Mixing up Lovecraft and Star Wars!
– Robert Dayton, Dispatches, TERMINAL CITY, volume 3 #88, May 18-25 1995