Antonello Cresti
Lucifer Over London

"Lucifer Over London", curated by Antonello Cresti, is a beautiful book on industrial music and apocalyptic folk: it is an essential text for enthusiasts of these genres and the groups that best represent them.

"Lucifer Over London" is not just a volume that merely analyzes various groups, genres, and musical subgenres: the charm and value of the text lie in its ability to delve deeply in search of the cultural background and dark impulses that have given rise to famous names in the musical underground like Throbbing Gristle, Coil, Current93, and Death in June.

The historical roots of these groups can therefore be traced back to the dark side of English culture: in fact, it is impossible to fully understand the complexity of a project rich with literary references like the Current93 by David Tibet, or the decadent visionariness of Coil by John Balance without knowing the artists who influenced them.

One of the keys to understanding the characteristics of certain alternative English culture is identified in eccentricity: it is indeed the Coil themselves who emphasize the importance of this peculiarly “British” trait that has always manifested in the artistic history of Great Britain.

In "Lucifer Over London", the author guides us on a journey to discover a typically English gallery of characters belonging to the world of painting, the occult, philosophy, and music.

In the book’s pages, long-controversial personalities like the famous magician Aleister Crowley and the occultist John Dee are analyzed. Significant space is also given to marginal and tormented but crucial painters in the apocalyptic folk imagination, such as the artists Austin Osman Spare, Charles Sims, and Louis Wain.

Then the alternative figures of British classical music represented by musicians like Gustav Holst, Arnold Bax, and Cyrill Scott are examined.

Very important is the examination of the dark sound phenomenon that developed in England in the early ’70s: progressive groups with hard and dark sounds like Black Widow, High Tide, and Atomic Rooster consciously drew inspiration from a well-rooted Gothic literary tradition in the land of Albion.

Also in the '70s, pagan themes and visionary writers like William Blake inspired fundamental artists of the folk revival, such as Shirley Collins, Incredible String Band, and Comus. These musicians, in particular, were decisive in pushing David Tibet, by his own admission, towards the neo-folk turn of Current93.

The part of the book that deals with apocalyptic music shows us how the dark heart that has always pulsed within Great Britain found its worthy successors in those few but very valuable artists who understood and embraced the legacy of the most eccentric and nonconformist Anglo-Saxon culture.

Therefore, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, and Coil concerning industrial music and Current93, Death in June, and Sol Invictus concerning apocalyptic folk are analyzed, highlighting their ties with their ancestral past: however, the musical analysis is not as in-depth as the cultural one, which could be considered a limitation of the text.

Only the Death in June somewhat paradoxically distance themselves from their Anglo roots, as Douglas P.’s project has always had a strong connection with the imagery of an idealized Europe seen as the last bastion against the decay of the West.

The volume concludes with some interesting interviews in the appendix with Steve Sylvester (DeathSS), Vittore Baroni, and a radical right-wing essayist like Luca Leonello Rimbotti.

Antonello Cresti: Lucifer Over London (Itinerari Musicali – 2010, pag. 272, € 20.00)