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THE CURSE OF LORD SPACE DEVIL  In 2008, King Wizard, an ambitious project about witchcraft and magic, was planned to be the first Cosmic Trip Machine record, but the band finally chooses Lord Space Devil. One year later, just before the Vampyros Roussos sessions, Will and Majnun worked on a King Wizard remake to create Son of Lord Space Devil, a double album with four different suites. On its original concept, the first side presented numbers from the lost King Wizard project, telling the story of Rothbart, an evil sorcerer, with musical quotations from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet and references to B-movies and occult themes (like the Voynich manuscript or Basile Valentin’s twelve philosophical keys). The second part was composed by three progressive tracks, melting instrumentals and new versions from Lord Space Devil songs, included Lord Space Devil, Conversation, Death Light, Mantra, Last Song and ideas based on improvisations. The next side was an acoustic one, based on philosophy texts, poetries, Buddhist goddess Quàn thê âm and Can Am Des Puig folk 70’s band’s Book of Am. Then, album conclusion was the 20 minutes master piece Amethyst. Between 2009 and 2010, Cosmic Trip Machine had many difficulties with Son of Lord Space Devil preparation. The first drummer left the project after a couple of rehearsals. Majnun had gone through a period of depression. During the sessions, album engineer had violent pain in his arm. The coffeemaker was out of order. The computer with album’s sounds and editing software didn’t work. Will Z. suffered from health problems which left him unable to sing. Even worse, the result of early takes was judged as “weak”. So, the duo decided to cut the album in half: several tracks were abandoned including Amethyst because the two musicians thought this particular song possesses a negative power from the start. In fact, Will Z. composed, in 2000, the first five minutes of Amethyst, inspired by two James Joyce’s poetries but didn’t have the rights to use original texts, so the lyrics subsequently changed with many versions, all unfinished. For more than ten years, Majnun and Will developed their ideas and extended the song by adding in some improvisation elements and new themes, but every recording attempt failed. See The Curse of Lord Space Devil pictures Because of all these events, Son of Lord Space Devil was shelved on March 2010. However, some of the tracks were salvaged and rearranged. Majnun insisted to change the album title as The Curse of Lord Space Devil, which includes electric and acoustic fragments intended for the lost original project plus new material. Cosmic Trip Machine changed their minds during the realization process, but The Curse of Lord Space Devil is the definitive version of Son of Lord Space Devil, not THE version of course, another one, floating on Corpus Hermeticum, The Book of Am, poetries and mystic texts. The third Cosmic Trip Machine album is showing a new direction, a synthesis of the synthesis, close to the Lord Space Devil psychedelic spirit, that you should enjoy. "It takes more than intellect to be a musician. Put your soul into it a little. Of course, it doesn't pay much, but, at least, it's a start." |
