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Emerging from Dunwich a remote rural town in New England Azathoth played dark psychedelic experimental rock music producing a truly demented sound of maddening, piping organ swirls, guitars fuzzed beyond the point of coherence, thunderously primitive drums and accompanied by howling vocals often in an apparently unrecognisable language.

Azathoth performed infrequent live concerts across the mid west from 1966 to 1967. The concerts allegedly were so freakishly bizarre they occasionally caused some audience members to become ‘mentally unstable and subsequently institutionalised’ (ref: the Chicago times – p12 (article) Music of Madness 26/03/1967). This may in some part be due to the infamous ‘black acid’ LSD tabs that were only available at these concerts (ref: Simon Magar | Bad Acid | Mammon Press 1974).

They were destined to remain unheard on vinyl despite recording a studio album at the now defunct Strawberry Jam Studios (San Francisco). Upon hearing these recordings the record label, Decca, broke their contract and shelved the master tapes which were until recent years considered to be lost. Following them being dropped from Decca Azathoth simply disappeared although unconfirmed rumour persists that members continued to play anonymous concerts in small venues in San Francisco up until the summer of 1969.

A decade later a bootleg album of these recordings was issued under the title ‘Necronomicon’ attributed to the label Witches Hammer. Following court action by Decca this bootleg album was withdrawn from sale and all copies are now believed to have been destroyed.

Heathcote Carter | Fuzzbox Acid Machine – Psychedelic music from 1966 to 1969 | Luna Rose Press 1979

TRACK LISTING

01 | BURROWERS BENEATH

02 | MEN WITHOUT BONES

03 | THE SULLEN PLACE

04 | HOUNDS THAT HUNGER

05 | BLACK FLOWERS INSIDE

06 | SONGS FROM THE FORBIDDEN BOOK

07 | LURKERS OUTSIDE

08 | THE SPACE BEWTEEN THE STARS

09 | HE WHO HOWLS AT THE THRESHOLD

10 | MADNESS COMES