An album in two parts? “Into the….”

[noveltywave]

I know someone suggested there are 3 parts of 6 songs, but listening to the vinyl, and the cassette, the album seems very clearly in two parts. Perhaps even two EPs stuck together (or 4 EPs)? The first disk, first side of the vinyl has most of the religious vocal samples, and works as kind of a five track EP unto itself (although HHLL kind of jams that up a little).

Then interestingly Disk One, Side Two has this narrative flow of “Somewhere Right Now In The Future” > Hare Krishna’s chanting in purgatory > “Acts Of Magic” being the main sample we heard in the candle/alter invocation album promo vid on YouTube, suggesting some kind of black magic invocation > “Memory Death” with the obvious title and the heart monitor > then “The Word Becomes Flesh” with the construction of the embryo. It’s hard to explain but the flow makes narrative sense right?

But then, what really gets me is Disk Two, Side Three then opens with “Into The Magic Land” a clear sign of ‘here we go let’s move into something new’ but even more interestingly it’s the second song in the sequence to reference “magic” in the title, that can’t be a coincidence? Entering the magic land takes us into the labyrinth, then Deep Time takes us into the earth and rock layers, James Hutton etc, telling us that the earth has been here a lot, lot longer than any religion (and this track connects back to HHLL, discussing matter, elements, geology etc). So what does “All Reason Departs” mean? In a way the title itself make some kind of sense, is the fantasy of all our made up gods and religion taking us far away from “reason” “science”. I can’t help but think HHLL should have been sequenced between Deep Time and All Reason Departs, and perhaps Arena Americana should have been where HHLL is?

Then we go into the final side of the record “Arena Americanada” > the apocalyptic The Process > You Retreat > Platonia. Again this four track sequence makes a narrative sense, but it feels like it should continue from Side 1, not side 3. The Process brings back the vocal editing, and You Retreat brings back the religous theme with the requiem style organ.

After seeing the mastering notes for MHTRTC, and after looking at the other records, i suspect BOC thinks in terms of album sides, however, the unique cassette release of this track might not just be hipster marketing (i mean, it totally is) but maybe another way of saying “hey, think of this in terms of two sides, two disks”. Although, I guess if they really wanted that they would have just put a gap between the tracks on the back of the CD too.

But as I wrote, having Acts of Magic as an invocation, then starting Disk Two/Side Two of the cassette with “Into The Magic Land” (Into The Rainbow Vein”?) seems seriously intentional. But I can’t quite get my finger on it!

[Buckie High]

In my opinion, the alternate tracklisting flows much better:

Part 1:
01 The Process
02 Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan
03 Age Of Capricorn
04 Father And Son
05 Somewhere Right Now In The Future
06 Naraka
07 Into The Magic Land

Part 2:
08 Introit
09 Prophecy at 1420 MHz
10 Deep Time
11 All Reason Departs
12 You Retreat In Time And Space
13 Arena Americanada
14 I Saw Through Platonia

[Soul_Slip]

In my opinion, the alternate tracklisting flows much better:

Part 1:
01 The Process
02 Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan
03 Age Of Capricorn
04 Father And Son
05 Somewhere Right Now In The Future
06 Naraka
07 Into The Magic Land

Part 2:
08 Introit
09 Prophecy at 1420 MHz
10 Deep Time
11 All Reason Departs
12 You Retreat In Time And Space
13 Arena Americanada
14 I Saw Through Platonia

Is there a reason you have the track list in this order? or is it just the way you enjoy it more?

[steeldancer-x]

I concur with this concept and it absolutely begins with ITML (lol just noticed that). It begins the second half’s motif of progressively going “deeper” into the sound, the inferno, the nothingness, the enigma… whatever your game is. It’s hard to explain but with the way I perceived it, the first half is basically “don’t join a cult, also what defines a cult?” and then the second half starts to actually address the meat and the potatoes. Blood in the Labyrinth, All Reasons Depart, and The Process all feel like you are “submerging” in each of their own unique methods.

[outhudd]

Agree completely with this. On my first listen, during "Into The Magic Land" I thought that it sounds like "going deeper" and, yes it clear to me now that this is the first track of the of the real payoff in this album.

LP1 (1-10) has some great tunes, but LP2 starting with ITML is where things really get serious, mature, immersive and it's what makes this my favourite BoC album.

[skunkman]

I think it definitely is split. Introit is a quick "ascension" motif, and the tracks until Acts Of Magic all seem to be celestial, universal, heavenly, or religious. Acts of Magic feels like a train ride into Hell, like some kind of descent. And the tracks that follow it seem to share that sort of imagery.

I think it can be broken up further. There are certain tracks that deal with Magic, others deal with Time etc. I think they might all be fragments of a bigger theme