“No Turning Back” is a cut from the 16-track concept album Dreams in the Witch House: A Lovecraftian Rock Opera. Executive producer Mike Dalager explains how reading Lovecraft’s short story, “The Dreams in the Witch House” on a flight to Stockholm inspired him:

“The Dreams in the Witch House” quickly left an impression on me and I began to envision the story on a theatrical stage.  It was when I read the following passage that I visualized the Broadway stage:

And now, too, there was a growing feeling that somebody was constantly persuading him to do something terrible which he could not do.  How about the somnambulism?  Where did he go sometimes in the night?  And what was that faint suggestion of sound which once in a while seemed to trickle through the maddening confusion of identifiable sounds even in broad daylight and full wakefulness?  Its rhythm did not correspond to anything on earth, unless perhaps to the cadence of one or two unmentionable Sabbat-chants, and sometimes he feared it corresponded to certain attributes of the vague shrieking or roaring in those wholly alien abysses of dream.

In this one passage Lovecraft made numerous references to sound; faint suggestions pertaining to rhythm and cadence, vaguely shrieking or roaring.  I immediately heard a Heavy Metal soundtrack in my mind and the seeds of a Lovecraftian Rock Opera were planted.

In her role as Keziah Mason, the witch, singer Alaine Kashian’s powerful (and eerie!) vocals give “No Turning Back” a stunning effect. Oh, and she’s no ugly old wart-faced witch, either!

The Dreams in the Witch House: A Lovecraftian Rock Opera album is available both in CD format and in a gorgeous double-LP set. The LPs are pressed in violet vinyl and the cover features artwork by Carlos Garcia Rivera and Keith Thompson. This cosmic horror rock opera captures Lovecraft’s full palette in glorious detail!

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SCIFI Radio Staff
SCIFI Radio Staff

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