Le Bataclan Massacre [PT2]

If you've read part 1 you may have noticed that 9 years have gone by as of the day this one was posted. I didn't plan on doing a follow-up but I've stumbled across some information that, while not exactly abundant, is rather shocking. Shocking in the sense that it supports the conspiratorial angle I explore in-depth in part 1 eerily well - which is slightly ironic because I thought I went a little overboard upon a recent re-reading of it! And while none of what I'm about to get into is really NEW, I don't know that anyone else has put these peices together in the way I am about to here.

Though plenty of horriffic things have unfortunately occured in the last 9 years since I first wrote about this incident, Friday November 13th 2015 at Le Bataclan remains the deadliest concert shooting in history with about 89 casualties. For that reason alone, I think it deserves a bit more attention than it gets from the average concert-goer.

Some may find my lines of questioning and theorizing absurd, offensive, or insensitive. I'm not asking anyone to prescribe to my theories or LIKE my opinions, but I do ask the reader to take care and notice the difference between factual information I present and opinions/conjecture. Despite how it may sound, I know the difference and I hope you do as well.

PAPER GODS

Let's talk about Duran Duran's album "Paper Gods," released September 11th, 2015...Wait, hold on...what date was it released on? Ah, who cares I'm sure it means nothing! I mean, look at the album cover - do you see the twin towers on there? No, it's a bunch of cutout images referencing various hits in DD's career, right? You got the Sumo Wrestler from "Girls on Film," the painted lips from the cover of "Rio," the chauffer cap from "The Chauffeur," and so on, no conspiracies here!

As mentioned in part 1, if you remember, Le Bataclan was sold on 9.11.2015, just 2 months before the attacks [Wait, the SAME 9.11 that Duran Duran released their album? Yes, the same day]. Considering Le Bataclan had the same owners for almost 40 years before that sale, it seems a bit strangely timed. You might also remember who the owners Joel and Pascal Laloux [Jews] sold the place to?

When I posted part 1, Lagardere's website "history" section noted one of their subsidaries "Matra BAe Dynamics" was "the leading weapons manufacturer in Europe and the third largest in the world" as of 1996. Like many other large corporations they have had their hands in many bowls all over the place, but in September of 2015, they changed their name to Lagardère Sports and Entertainment. I'm not sure why, but something about the segue from "leading weapons manufacturer" to "sports and entertainment producer" just doesn't sit that well with me, I don't know about you.

So who cares right? Well, as I stated in part 1, Qatar owned 70% of Lagardère at the time. Qatar is a known funder of the Muslim Brotherhood. And although the Brotherhood and Isis/Isil are allegedly enemies, that doesn't mean that Qatar isn't funding them as well. This is backed up by a wikileaks revealed email between Hillary Clinton and John Podesta which reads in part that Qatar AND the Saudis were “providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL.” Isis/Isil claimed credit for the deadly Le Bataclan shooting. This means that the largest shareholder of the company that purchased Le Bataclan on 9.11.2015 was potentially FUNDING the very same group who claimed credit for shooting it up!

It behooves conspirators of large crimes such as this to promote a climate of shame towards those who would dare promote "baseless conspiracy theories" such as mine. But clearly, our habitual blind acceptance of the mainstream media narrative surrounding events such as this only seems to lead us right into the next one. And so I think a good first step here is to interrupt this psychological pattern and at least acknowledge that we as a people have largely lost the ability to differentiate between "entertainment" and "propaganda." We must wake up to the fact that this is a huge victory for the enemy and gives them great power to pull off huge crimes and face no accountability!

[Track listing for the album "Paper Gods" taken from duranduran.co.kr]

So what do you think now, should we look a little closer at this "Paper Gods" album which came out the same day Le Bataclan was sold to funders of Isis/Isil? Are the lyrics along the lines of "Girls on Film" and "Hungry like the Wolf?" Actually, no, they are decidedly dark! While I'd certainly encourage you to look these lines up and see them in context, here's a few creepier ones taken from the title track, "Paper Gods."

Bleeding from paper cuts, money for head shots

The concept behind this album feels to me like some form of criticism of the industry behind the music and entertainment business - fairly common territory for bigger bands to inevitable arrive at. Using creative metaphors and pop-laden melodic lines make this a perfect way to sort of keep things viable pop-wise, but also satisfy the need for a band to express something "artistically honest".

"Paper" in this context represents bureaucracy, traditionally symbolized by endless stacks of contracts, legal notices, and money. To be bleeding from proverbial "paper cuts" could easily be a reference to bloodshed as a result of a particulary bad contract or financial transaction. While "head shots" is a known type of promotional photo, it's also graphically relavant in a more literal sense with regard to the Bataclan massacre. So yes, I would say that short line is quite loaded!

And when the final curtain finally comes down
We'll all be in the party room, no wiser as to how

As in a traditional theatre play or even an old school cinema room, curtains coming down signify the end of the show, an intermission, or segue into the next scene. It means "the end," possibly for now, possibly forever. Death.

The "party room," the "concert hall," the "dance club" - pick your location where a crowd "no wiser" as to their imminent demise congregates. If we're talking about the "party room" at Le Bataclan, well - there was 24 minutes from the initial terrorist attacks at another location in Paris before the shooting began at the sold out Eagles of Death Metal show. People had smart phones in 2015. This club had recieved threats of an anti-semetic nature before. There's no reason security at the club should have been unprepared for such an attack. At the very least, SOMEONE had to have been alerted during that 24 minute gap that shootings began not so far away! And as I mentioned in part 1, Jesse Hughes was quoted publicly for stating he thought something seemed off about security that night. And so the song could be interpreted as highlighting the fact that the crowd was so oblivious, when they really should not have been.

Here are some lines from the song "Last Night in the City"...

We’re gonna live this night, ye-yeah
Live it like it’s our last night
Cause nobody cares
If there’s no tomorrow

To live a night as if it is you LAST is a way to poke fun at the inevitable fact that we are all gonna die someday, so we might as well have some fun before then. This is similar in theme to Prince's 80s hit "1999." Remember how people were freaking out about what would happen when the year 2000 arrived? I do.

I don't wanna belabor the point, but clearly some of these lyrics are eerily relavant to the Le Bataclan attack. On it's own this doesn't really prove anything, but taken into account with other details in this blog, it reveals something that is at least worth contemplating seriously for a minute. It's not a crime to think out loud and in public, even if it pisses some people off!

On October 2nd, 2015 the Eagles of Death Metal released their 4th album, "Zipper Down." On this album they recorded "Save a Prayer," which is a Duran Duran cover tune. Later that month on October 30th the band EODM appear on the UK's TFI Friday. Duran Duran joins them onstage for a performance of the song "Save a Prayer."

What I'm trying to highlight here is the very deliberate public connection being made between Duran Duran and the Eagles of Death metal - the latter being a fun little "joke band" from the California desert - who seem to have enjoyed an extraoridinary amount of mainstream support, as documented in part 1. Doesn't that seem like kind of an odd pairing that sort of comes out of nowhere? Duran Duran owes this band nothing, they are one of the biggest pop rock bands of all time, they don't really need to try and capitalize on a lesser known band like EODM covering one of their tunes, do they? There doesn't seem to be any business or direct management connection there either, other than licencing the song out.

On November 16th, just 3 days after the Le Bateclan massacre, Simon Le Bon announced the band’s support for a fundraising campaign via Twitter, where royalties from The Eagle's of Death Metal's cover song for "Save a Prayer" would be donated to families of the Paris attack victims.

"British fans have launched a campaign to make Eagles of Death Metal's cover version of Duran Duran's Save A Prayer number one on the UK music charts, as a show of support after the attacks at the band's show in Paris on Friday." - cbc.ca

I mentioned this in part 1, and I'm gonna double down here: yeah, this sounds like a real nice gesture of charity and solidarity but it also appears to be a promotional REWARD to EODM for something. 2 things can be true at the same time. Maybe money was raised for victims in good faith here and maybe this was ALSO Duran Duran rewarding EODM for taking part in something.

REAP J LAM

If you follow my material often, you may recall a theory I have which is call "Reap J Lam", an anagram of the band name "Pearl Jam". It's really just my version of the old myth that one must make a deal with the devil for fame and fortune. Personally, I don't think it's a myth, but my version is based on the idea that Andrew Wood, of Mother Love Bone, was sacrificed for Pearl Jam's fame and fortune [will provide link below expanding upon this].

If a sacrifice is generally required for fame and fortune, what was Duran Duran's sacrifice? I realize it's a terrible question, but for what it's worth, I'm not accusing Simon Le Bon or any other member of Duran Duran of being responsible for the 2015 Le Bataclan shootings. I'm accusing the devil, who operates within the entertainment industry and beyond. Who deceives young musicians into signing their name on a contract he knows they haven't read or properly understood. Who comes to collect a debt from someone who didn't read the fine print.

Did you know that Simon Le Bon almost died on August 11th, 1985 in a freak Yacht related accident?

"A structural design failure caused the vessel's heavy keel to snap off, instantly capsizing the yacht. While 18 crew members managed to scramble onto the upturned hull, Le Bon and five others were trapped below decks in a rapidly shrinking air pocket filled with dangerous diesel fumes and battery acid. During his underwater escape, Le Bon's pants snagged on a piece of the boat, forcing him to take them off under the water. He was famously hoisted into the helicopter wearing only his underwear, an image that became a worldwide sensation." - Google A.I.

For a keel to "shear off" of a brand new Yacht is exceedingly rare, according to my reliable friend who would NEVER lie, Google A.I. Simon Le Bon was quite rich in the year 1985 and he apparently paid Ron Holland to design his Yacht, a guy with a reputation for making Superyachts for competative racing. This isn't a guy who's gonna screw up a boat so bad that the keel shears off fresh out of the factory! And yet, the primary cause of the accident seems to be a somewhat convoluted and vaguely designated "design error."

One of the excuses for this "quality control failure" is due to the fact that the vessel was originally commissioned by sailor Rob James, who tragically drowned before construction began. The project was halted and sold to Simon Le Bon. The disjointed construction process is what is being blamed for the structural flaw in attaching the keel [Apparently, it was never correctly or fully attached to the hull's internal framework]. But what I don't quite understand exactly is how the construction process was "disjointed," when it didn't even begin until after James passed away? There were no "half built" sections to be re-evaluated. And given the amount of money, the high profile clients involved, and the skills of Ron Holland - I would think the construction process would have been well looked after from start to finish! But perhaps there is more to the story which makes this make more sense...

[Rob James, "an immensely experienced sailor" - sailinganarchy.com]

It seems that Simon Le Bon's "freak accident" was connected to another one, by way of the late Rob James.

"Rob was an immensely experienced sailor but ironically it was he who died in a freak accident. Rob and his crew had just delivered his 60-foot trimaran from Cowes to Salcombe on the south coast of England when he went forward to drop the mainsail and fell into the water. By all accounts it was pretty calm but it took the crew an hour and forty-five minutes to locate and recover his body." - sailinganarchy.com

Apparently, some sort of netting failed [which NEVER happens in this manner by the way], causing James to plummet down into the water. But this doesn't really tell us HOW he died. Surely he could swim, being an "immensely experienced sailor." And he wasn't alone, attempts were made by his crew to throw him a "life ring." The water was relatively calm that morning, so how did he drown and why did it take an hour and 45 minutes to find/fish his body out?

Although the official cause of death appears to be "drowning," a noted compounding factor was BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA. In other words, he was hit in the head before hitting the water, likely passed out, and therefore compromised his ability to swim and for people to find him. This blunt force trauma is assumed to have been caused by him banging up against something as he fell down through the net, but how do we know someone didn't just clock him over the head before throwing him into the water?

It's fair to say that both the failing safety net and the failing keel are both exceedingly rare occurances statistically. So now I'm wondering, was Rob James' dream Yacht rigged to actually CAUSE the "freak accident" which nearly claimed Simon Le Bon's life and 5 others. Was he the intended sacrifice for the band's fame and fortune initially?

Here's the pattern I see, and I'm not claiming it's proof of anything, but here goes...

Typically the way the "sacrifice ritual" potentially works is that the death needs to occur in a very public way and a strong connection must be established between the band and the one sacrificed. In other words, it must be made obvious on some level who was sacrificed for whom. But there also must be a strong level of plausible deniability present for the mainstream media to latch onto. The mainstream media will then promote ONLY the denial narrative and either completely ignore or ridicule the occult narrative. For example:

Legend has it, the last words spoken between Vinnie and Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott just before Dimebag was murdered on stage were "VAN HALEN". A visibly drunken Eddie Van Halen then attended Dimebag's funeral and placed his iconic "bumblebee" guitar inside Dimebag's coffin, before a shocked crowd. Someone close to Dimebag was quoted as saying that if he knew Eddie would do that, Dimebag would say "kill me now!" All this established the connection between Dimebag's death and Van Halen pretty dramatically and very publicly. A suitable sacrifice with plenty of plausible deniability baked in.

The Le Bataclan situation was a little more involved because I think it served multiple agendas, one of which was sacrificial. I'm first looking at the date the club was sold, 9.11.15. This was of course the 14-year anniversary of the WTC 911 attacks, which we were told were committed by Muslim extremists. We were also told Muslim extremists were responsible for the attack on Le Bataclan. The motivation for Muslim extremists to choose such a date seems obvious, and probably should lead one to at least consider who booked the show and what their other connections might be to the event.

Then we have Duran Duran's "Paper Gods" album, released on the same day the club was sold, 9.11.15. This creates a pattern link between the album, the sale of the club to its' NEW owners [Lagardere/Qatar], and the terrorist attacks of 9.11.2001. The album cover features images from DD's various hits throughout the years, recalling their fame and fortune and where it came from initially. This might make sense on the front of a "best of" album, and I am sure the band has a perfectly sensible explanation as to why these images were chosen for their [at the time] new album. But the combination of these images with the "Paper Gods" themes of paper contracts, money, blood, divine forces and death alludes to the COST of it all, and to whom it is due.

The Eagles of Death Metal release their album the same year, and include a Duran Duran cover. They then appear TOGETHER on a popular UK show and perform the song together, further linking them in a very public way. This promotional campaign sets a strong public link between the 2 groups BEFORE the incident at Le Bataclan, so that their connections during the aftermath can function perfectly as a the necesarry fanfare of an occult mission accomplished, while also creating a level of plausible deniability [it's all for charity] without anyone suspecting the REAL reason for the fanfare.

If I am correct, and this Reap J Lam theory carries weight, then I would say the slaughter at Le Bataclan was at least partially intended to serve as the sacrifice for Duran Duran's fame and fortune over the years, and probably Josh Homme's carreer as well, being that he is the real establishment force behind the Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stoneage, and Kyuss.

PART 1

THE REAP J LAM THEORY

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Blue Oyster Cult: Occult Symbolism [PT 1]

Blue Oyster Cult is one of the most well known, and longest running American Rock bands in history, dating as far back as the late 1960s. And they show no signs of retiring anytime soon. In fact, they are currently on their "On Tour Forever!" tour as I type this out!

Although I am sure most of you reading this are familiar, or have at least heard of Blue Oyster Cult - a quick youtube search for the classic rock tunes "Don't Fear the Reaper," "Godzilla," and "Burning for You" might ring some bells.

Even if you don't recall the band, you might recognize their logo, which I remember seeing spray-painted on walls as a child. It remains one of the most iconic rock band logos ever, managing to be many things at once. Bold yet disarming, visually appealing yet subtly sinister, symmetrical yet abstract, vague yet curiously direct.

Much like Pink Floyd, the eccentric image of B.O.C. tends to eclipse the literal face of any individual member. There's no real "rockstar frontman" here, in the standard traditional sense. And in the case of the latter, a little digging into their history reveals that this was done quite intentionally from the get-go.

While one can stand right in front of Buck Dharma or Eric Bloom at a concert and sing along to all of the classics, there is something elusive which never seems to reveal itself. A certain palpable magic that they project or embody. Something perhaps bigger than themselves, but not always clearly defined or completely percieved. There is an uncanny mystique behind BOC, always has been.

While there is a known concept [or "mythos"] behind much of the band's imagery and lyrics, there is not always total consistency or even consideration of it at all from song to song/album to album over the years. Given that, I don't know how completely insightful it is to simply lay out my version of it all, as I understand it. I'm more interested in objectively observing the album artwork, in combination with the lyrics and other anectotal information, just to see where it leads.

"But why waste your time on this Joe???" - somebody out there

Same reason one might research ingredients contained within the food/drinks we consume. Sure, many things taste good, look good, and might make one even FEEL good for a time, but is it actually GOOD for you? Could it be BAD for you? Could it even be KILLING you?

For some reason, the MEDIA we consume daily gets a free pass directly into our heads, as if it is this inevitably benign influence with no possible detrimental effects! From the perspective of advertisers and propagandists, this makes bands like B.O.C. the perfect potential "Trojan Horse" into our psyche!

[Following their victory against the Axis forces in North Africa, the British had high hopes for the development of Allied strategy in the Mediterranean. They believed that an attack on Italy might lead to a breakthrough. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill even termed that nation ‘the soft underbelly of Europe’. - nam.ac.uk]

THE SOFT WHITE UNDERBELLY

The original name of the band that would later be known as Blue Oyster Cult was "Soft White Underbelly," supplied by a man named Sandy Pearlman. He was not a band member, more of a "5th Beatle" or manager/orchestrator of it all. Pearlman allegedly took it from a Winston Churchill speech, which occured during WWII. The "Allied Powers," which included Churchill's Great Britain, were the countries united against Hitler and the Nazis. "The Axis Powers" referred to those alligned with Hitler, which included Italy. Churchill viewed Italy as the weakest spot, or the "soft white underbelly" of the Axis Powers, and therefore suggested attacking them first.

How do we interpret the concept behind a late 60s psychedelic band out of Long Island with a name like this? On its' face it would seem they had some sort of political agenda. Was the band an allegorical weapon to be fired at the metaphorical weak spot of some unspecified target?

Although Soft White Underbelly [or that same group under a different name] did record 2 albums worth of material for Elektra Records in the late 1960s, neither saw the light of day until many years later, finally manifesting itself in the form of 2001's St Cecilia: The Elektra Recordings.

[Hey, who's that lady depicted in the background supposed to be?]

["Cecilia of Rome was a Christian virgin martyr, who is venerated in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She became the patron saint of music and musicians, it being written that, as the musicians played at her wedding, Cecilia "sang in her heart to the Lord"."]

The band now known as Blue Oyster Cult [or BOC, or just "the Cult"] was operating under the moniker of Stalk-Forrest Group [and possibly "Oaxaca"] when they recorded what would later be known as the 2001 compilation "St Cecelia: The Elektra Recordings." Since this is the group's earliest complete set of recordings, we'll start here with breaking down the artwork.

The title of the compilation is obviously named after one of the songs included therein, entitled "St Cecilia," but I don't know that the female character depicted on the front of the album is necesarily supposed to be her or not.

While Saint Cecilia died in 230AD, the female on the album cover appears to be dressed as a harlot from the 1700s or so. Her right hand looks to be holding a mirror, since she is staring at it the way one would stare at a Smartphone as one takes a "selfie" today. This same right hand is subtly, but almost assuredly giving the "sign of the horns." In her left hand she holds what looks like a small sack, containing coins I presume. Why would she be holding coins in a sack? Because she just got paid! I'll leave it up to you to ponder what she got paid for...

Why would they reference the virgin St. Cecilia in the album title, but then depict some type of Baroque era whore on the album cover? Perhaps this is part of the "time traveling" aspect of Sandy Pearlman's "Imaginos" mythos, which came to permeate BOC lyrics to a larger or lesser degree over the years. Especially given the appearance of a mirror, which is a prominent symbol in this mythos [more on that later].

Without getting too far into the weeds here, I suspect these references were perhaps refined over time to fit into Pearlman's EVOLVING mythos, rather than something which was set in stone as far back as the Elektra recordings [although we are told Pearlman did indeed have this mythos worked out, at least in part, during the inception of the band].

The background depicts in somewhat lo-fi 60s art fashion, a light green forest sillouette. Stalk FORREST group. Get it? But what the hell does that really mean, and what kind of name for a band is Stalk-Forrest Group anyway?

[Sandy Pearlman (1943-2016) came up with the name Blue Oyster Cult while attending Stonybrook University in the late 1970s with other members of the band]

As stated earlier, Pearlman was the guy orchestrating things in the background here, and seemed to come up with every name for the band, before finally going with the abstract Blue Oyster Cult [aka B.O.C.]. We are told he came up with Stalk Forrest Group [aka S.F.G.] while staring down at his Chinese food and noting that it looked like stalks in a forest. I tend to think it is a bullshit explanation, but how would I or anyone else really know?

After some time struggling to find an alternative explanation as to where Sandy Pearlman REALLY got the name from, I took the first 3 letters of it and found that the group soon to be known as BOC was frequently referred to as SFG while assuming the role of prominant House Band at Stony Brook University in 1970. Then I asked myself what SFG might alternatively be an acronym for.

[For a number of years in the late 1960's, Miller Field, Staten Island, New York was home to the headquarters of the Army's 11th Special Forces Group. - militaryinsignia.blogspot.com]

Turns out, just 70 miles from Stony Brook University in 1970 was Staten Island's 11th Special Forces Group, AKA "SFG" [1963-August 1970]. Given the political/military connotations of the band's first name, Soft White Underbelly - it seems logical that elements behind the group were not just fans of 3 word names, but had an interest in the military. In fact Sandy Pearlman, the guy who came up with both names, had a known interest in military history and geopolitics. This became more obvious as time went on.

Another name the group used briefly in the late 60s was Oaxaca, which is the name of a place in Southern Mexico [pronounced "Wahaka"]. Assuming Sandy Pearlman came up with this name as well, it might relate back to the mirror thing believe it or not, and the "Imaginos" mythos, by way of a Spanish Conquistador named Hernan Cortes. After invading the Aztec capital in 1581, he brought back loot to Europe and was dubbed Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca by the Spanish King. File that away into the back of your mind, because it will become relavant in a later.

While we still have 1 toe in the weeds here, I might as well note that while the name Blue Oyster Cult seems to relate to Pearlman's Imaginos Mythos, the name could also have something to do with a location. Specifically, Oyster Bay, the original location of Stony Brook University. Stony Brook is the university where all the band members came together and started writing the music which ended up on the St Cecilia Recordings. I also find it worth noting that Sandy Pearlman's name contains SAND [found at the beach] and PEARL [found occassionally in Oysters].

[Astrological symbol for Saturn]

[Astrological symbol for the Sun]

[Bill Gawlik, alleged artist behind the first 2 Blue Oyster Cult album covers, as well as their iconic logo]

Regarding artist Bill Gawlik, little seems to be known. To quote hotrails.co.uk,

When was he born? Dunno... Where was he born? Dunno... What about his early life, junior and high schools etc...? Guess what - that's right, I dunno that either...

We'll probably delve a little more into this mysterious figure later, but for now let's just break down his most occult of cult logos, the Blue Oyster Cult cross and hook!

It's pretty commonly known that BOC's cryptic logo is merely an alteration of the astrological symbol for Saturn. What I don't hear mentioned as much is that the astrological symbol for the Sun is also in there.

Why Saturn? For starters Saturn is represented alchemically by the element lead, the HEAVIEST of METALS in the elemental chart [nudge nudge wink wink say no more say no more...] Time/Kronos is also associated with Saturn. Death/the Scythe, and the color associated with Saturn is....get ready....wait for it....BLACK. Lead also happens to be black. What a coincidence!

As far as the Sun goes, it is easy to link it in with more modern conceptions of Nazi/Black Sun occultism, but this is something which evolved more recently, so I am hesitent to try and force that aspect in here. That being said, BOC's logo has long been compared to the Swastika, arguably within the band's own lyrics! ["Shadow of California" for example] But I think it's probably safer bet to associate the Sun with Saturn from the perspective of Astrology, when one's "sun sign" is Saturn. There is also the phallic connotations but we don't need to get into all that here.

Speaking of LEAD [Led?] what other "heavy" early 70s rock band had BLACK in their name? Yes, that's right, Black Sabbath! Note that the Sabbath is a biblical Jewish tradition which happens on Saturday [whereas Christians typically go to Church on SUN-Day]. Well guess where the word "Saturday" comes from? It's short for Saturn's Day!

Apparently, Blue Oyster Cult was under some pressure from Columbia Records to be "America's answer to Black Sabbath." Could this common fixation upon Saturn and literal heavy metal be part of that endeavor? There's also the fact that Sandy Pearlman would eventually manage BOTH bands simultaneously, manifesting in the highly successful "Black and Blue" tour of 1980. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here...

THE BLACK AND WHITE ALBUMS

The first 3 BOC albums are sometimes referred to as the Black and White albums, for the obvious reason that they were rendered more or less in 2 colors: black and white. Some like to extend this out to the music, as though there is a particular "black and white era" BOC sound. Fair enough, but we are here to comment upon the artwork, so let's see what's going on here in this brilliant piece of hand-drawn minimalism...

BOC's 1972 debut album features symmetrical architecture, depicting what looks almost like some kind of apartment complex units, extending out into an infinate horizon. The units all appear to be indentical, while a slight shadow indicates a light source is shining somewhere up from behind the viewer, where we cannot see. Above the horizon, we see the infinate blackness of space filled with stars, a crescent moon being the only notable anomoly among the stars. Of course, we can't miss the ominous symbol, seeming to sit about where the sun would normally be rising [or falling]. Yet the symbol is not illuminated, and even sits off into the distant shade, as if it is either approaching or fading away, rather than rising/setting as the sun would. The name BLUE OYSTER CULT sprawled subtly and nonchalantly across the top, with that infamous umlaut over the letter "O".

The reverse side of the album is similar but simplified. We see either a different angle or a variation on the "apartment complex" units, which look more like storage facilities alongside a classic railroad system. While it's all pretty cool, I don't get the feeling Gawlick had this world of his completely worked out. It sure does stimulate the imagination though...

["When [Sandy] Pearlman met Gawlick the artist [pictured above] was hauling around complex architectural drawings in scroll form. The drawings contained within were Gawlick’s version of the future of America. Pearlman and Gawlick unfurled the scrolls and they went the entire length of the school buildings at Stony Brook. Upon looking inside, Pearlman knew he had the man to create the first Blue Oyster Cult album."- pungerer.net]

[L: Architect Albert Speer R: Adolf Hitler...Apparently, Gawlick was inspired by the work of Nazi artist Albert Speer. Speer had been commissioned by Adolf Hitler to design all of future Europe. - pungerer.net]

The above information can be corroborated from several different sources, but ultimately it all sounds very mythic and pretty sinister doesn't it? I'm not going to spend a bunch of time here trying to confirm or deny any of it, I'm more concerned with the narrative as we have recieved it, and what it tells us. What is the message being imparted here?

Much like the work of Roger Dean, and some of his more imaginative album covers for the band Yes, artist Bill Gawlick seems to have been drawing inspiration from a wider conceptual vision. The result is an image which appears to be what it is: a snapshot of a vast world, either imagined or forgotten.

It's hard to shake the image of a restless artist running around with a huge scroll of psuedo-architectural artistic renderings inspired by a Nazi architect! This story is specific enough to assume a deep occult agenda within this first BOC album, yet vague enough to laugh it off and just rock out despite possible connotations. But clearly we've got a Nazi theme running through the band's imagery right off the bat.

"I can’t swear to this but I guess Sandy [Pearlman] got a budget from CBS and sent Gawlick to work and he came up with the front and back artwork for the first album cover. We saw it and I liked it right away. I don’t think there was too much ‘fix this or fix that.’ He got it pretty right, right away." - Eric Bloom

Of course, let's not forget who's watching...that old CBS "Eye in the Sky." I've spoken about the Columbia Broadcasting System before and recommend hunting down videos by Jordan Maxwell, where he breaks down the CBS "All Seeing Eye" symbolism well.

Before diving right in with this 2nd album cover image, am I the only one who finds an odd corrolation between the Columbia Records logo and this album cover? That could arguably be the beginning and the end of the "occult meaning" behind the album cover, but that wouldn't be much fun would it? Let's dig a little deeper...

There's a peculiar sense of urgency to the image gracing the cover of BOC's 2nd album, almost producing the adrenaline rush of an imminent danger approaching. At least, that's what it does to this former Acid-Head.

"Sandy rehired Gawlick to do the second album cover. He had a couple of copies of album one in his apartment. He had an old record player that had an arm on top that would let you lower multiple albums down onto the platter of the turntable. He kept playing side one and side two of the first album over and over. Sandy went over to visit him one day to see how the artwork was coming. Gawlick had been up for twenty hours listening to side one and side two of the album over and over. He looked at Sandy and said, ‘This music is like tyranny and mutation.’ That is where the title came from."

At first glance, it has more seemingly masonic connotations than its predecessor, between the checkerboard floor and the pyramid capped with the "all seeing eye of Saturn." Instead of outer space we get endless rings [rings of Saturn?] with "stars" that look more like a bunch of bullet holes on a target board. The "3 steps" at the base of this somewhat truncated pyramid recall the 3 steps of Blue Lodge Freemasonry [which seem to be RED here], while the "pyramid" itself is equal parts masonic and abstract art.

The thought occurred to me that the "rings" are a symbolic rendering of sound, broadcasting from some kind of obscure tower - powered by...Saturn? Especially given the band's frequent flirtations with Nazi themes, the Kraftwerk album "Radioactivity" comes to mind - which originally featured an authentic Nazi-era radio on the cover. [see my blog series "The Craft Work of Kraftwerk"]. Coincidentally, this all corroborates perfectly with the idea that the image is merely an alternate rendering of Columbia Record's "all seeing eye" logo - in the wicked conspiratorial sense that is.

This pyramid/tower is made up of rectangles which, if added up within all 3 dimensional levels, total 116. In terms of Gematria and numerology, I don't really see anything worth mentioning of note - but this number may become more significant later.

YOU GONNA ADDRESS THE UMLAUT?

"An umlaut is a diacritical mark (¨) placed over a vowel (such as ä, ö, ü). In linguistics, it refers to both the mark itself and the historical sound shift (vowel mutation) that changes how the vowel is pronounced"

As far as I know the choice to add the umlaut to BOC's logo was made by artist Bill Gawlick when he designed their first album cover, without consulting anyone. However, the conceptual similarity between the Columbia Records logo and the 2nd album artwork suggests to me that Gawlick may have been advised on what to draw more than has previously been revealed or known "officially." Whatever the case, the umlaut is a subtle, but persistent reminder that there MIGHT be some Nazi thing happening here, as the umlaut is used extensively in Germanic/Scandinavian languages [this of course, taken in context with all the other WWII references throughout BOC's early era]. More importantly, proper modern English DOES NOT use umlauts, so it is being put there despite grammatical incorrectness, INVITING the observer to ask why.

I don't wanna digress too far here, but I thought it worth mentioning that the band Queensryche also had an umlaut in their name. There is also an arguable Nazi connection there, which is fairly compelling [I will provide a link to that blog below]. Queensryche also incorporated their record label's logo [EMI in that case] into an album cover, which was Empire, their top selling album to date. These are just anecdotes I thought worth mentioning here.

The reverse side of the album conjures up more classic Sci-Fi fantasy somewhere between 2001 A Space Odyssey and Star Wars [which had not come out yet]. The general feeling is of some type of off world intelligence. Almost looks like modern drive-up EV charging stations doesn't it? Energy cells or hardrives perhaps?

The title of the album combined with the artwork seems to send the most specific message. Tyranny assumes an oppressive and controlling force. Mutation indicates an organic alteration. An organic alteration driven by a tyrannical force. Well, that sounds kind of scary, doesn't it? Combined with the subtle masonic themes, the Saturn logo /"eye of providence" riddle, and just a hint of blood red at the base - we've got something vaguely sinister enough to trigger bad acid trips for years to come!

Bill Gawlick, a taxi driver who allegedly kept a butcher knife under his seat, seems to vanish from the face of the earth after completing these 2 album covers for BOC in the early 70s. It has been speculated somewhere out there online that Bill was the inspiration for Robert DeNiro's character in the classic film Taxi Driver. But this is one of many rumors, like so many others associated with Bill Gawlick, which seem destined to remain enshrouded in mystery - including his current whereabouts. Rumor also has it CBS is in possession of Gawlick's huge scroll of drawings referenced earlier, and that it sits in some dark storage locker gathering dust.

"A treaty is a legally binding written agreement between sovereign nations or international organizations."

BOC's 3rd album "Secret Treaties" is where the band begins to play heavily with their image as "occult artists" with some kind of "occult agenda." Sandy Pearlman seems to have handled most of the lyrics, while Richard Meltzer and Patti Smith [who was dating BOC's keyboardist at the time] also contributed.

Let's start with the plane depicted, which is the German WWII era Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed Schwalbe. "It was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft and one of two jet fighter aircraft types to see air-to-air combat in World War II"

The band is depicted cozying up to the aircraft, which has a grinning skeleton as a pilot. I assume Eric Bloom is the guy with the cape, attack dogs, and BOC shirt. The dogs happen to be German Shepherds.

Göring's on the phone from Freiburg
Says "Willie's done quite a job"
Hitler's on the phone from Berlin
Says "I'm gonna make you a star"

My Captain Von Ondine is your next patrol
A flight of English bombers across the canal
After twelve they'll all be here
I think you know the job
- ME 262 lyrics

I'm not going to sit here and take apart every line from the song "me 262" but when read in context with the album art and title, we've got quite a can of worms to deal with!

"Hermann Wilhelm Göring was a German politician, aviator, military commander, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945."

The band, who's chief lyricist Sandy Pearlman is a known military history buff, writes a song about a German WWII Nazi Jet from the perspective of the Germans. This plane is on the album cover, with members of the band standing next to it, as if it is their weapon which was just deployed. The singer wears a cape, as if he is a super hero [Nietzsche's "Ubermensch?], along side some German Shepards - Hitler's dog of choice, but also the preferred breed of Police in general. The band members pose suggestively, kind of like a group of mobsters who just pulled off a big job.

I think the best way to sum it up is that someone is blatantly trying to be controversial and just piss people off here! Maybe it's a desperate attempt to gain some attention, maybe it's flat out propaganda of some sort, or maybe it's a combination of the 2. Regardless, I think the general message is clear. The band is a type of weapon, and that weapon is Nazi aligned. This recalls the earlier section on "Soft White Underbelly," and Sandy Pearlman's apparent obsession with military history and WWII. The band is a weapon aimed at the "soft white underbelly" [the unsuspecting audience?]. At least, that's my interpretation.

In defense of the band for a moment, they may have had very little/nothing to do with the concept here or any intentional nefarious agenda in mind, other than rocking people's socks off with some controversial imagery and lyrics. These concepts seem to be getting fed to the band by the management/label, who openly pressured them to BE HEAVY like Black Sabbath.

For the record, I just don't see/hear BOC as ever being a full on "Heavy Metal" Band. I found it odd to research the band and discover that the "Heavy Metal" label seemed to be almost forced upon them. I wouldn't call them that, I'd just call them a very intense, at times progressive ROCK or Hard Rock band. BOC had/has their own kind of heavy, which definately transcends the Heavy Metal tag if you ask me.

Between the "Lopez" sign and the dudes with huge mustaches and sombreros in the background, the boys appear to have landed in a Spanish speaking place somewhere in Latin America. Some have suggested the setting here is Argentina or another location Nazis may have fled to after WWII. I'm gonna go with the Oaxaca themed interpretation, which puts us in Mexico.

Interpreted through the lense of Pearlman's "Imaginos" mythos as I understand it, the grinning skeletal pilot in the cockpit represents the shapeshifting Imaginos, an agent of the otherworldly aliens known as "Les Invisibles," who are a nefarious alien force directing Earth's wars in order to feed off of the fear, trauma, and death. Where the location comes into play here has to do with the mirror mentioned earlier.

["John Dee (13 July 1527 – December 1608 or March 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, teacher, astrologer, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy."]

[Jon Dee's infamous obsidian Scrying Mirror sits in the British Museum in London. Yeah, I know it doesn't look much like a "mirror." Supposedly as you stared into it to find your reflection that's when things start to get trippy...]

John Dee, who sometimes signed his name as 007 in confidential letters, allegedly contacted spiritual entities using "scrying tools," including an obsidian mirror. This Obsidian mirror is thought to have been obtained by a Spanish Conquistador mentioned earlier, Hernan Cortes. After invading the Aztec capital in 1581, he brought back loot to Europe and was dubbed Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca by the Spanish King. [is this why the band was briefly called Oaxaca?]

Though this story of John Dee contacting otherworldly entities may sound outlandish, it is one of the more credible stories we have of the sort in modern recorded history. Sandy Pearlman seems to be riffing off of this abstract history - which is noteworthy because if you think few people have heard of this in 2026, imagine what kind of person was not just fully aware of, but delving obsessively into this stuff in the 1970s or possibly earlier! Sandy Pearlman was clearly a guy that was digging deeply into occult history very early on, and clearly intended to use the band as a vehicle for this stuff from the get go. The question is, how much of his motivation was driven by money, vs entheusiasm for rock and roll or something else?

The back of the album features the same Messerschmitt Me 262, which is now empty and sits alone against a plain background. Being that this is modeled after a German Nazi-Era plane, the replacement of what would presumably be a Swastika insignia upon it's wings with the BOC logo flirts heavily with controversy. It insinuates, not so subtly, that the band is a vehicle for some form of Nazi agenda.

The fact that Sandy Pearlman and Eric Bloom are both Jewish is something which becomes harder to ignore the deeper we go here, and obviously brings up many questions, which I don't intend on entertaining to a huge degree here. Nonetheless, it is worth noting at this point I think.

We also see 4 German shepards, which appear to have been killed. The symbolism here is laughably thick, but in the interest of keeping this from going on forever, I'm narrowing it down to the most obvious interpretation I see - which is that the dogs represent bombs being dropped from the plane.

"The Process Church of the Final Judgment was a controversial, quasi-Satanic new religious movement founded in the 1960s. Members were known for their signature black capes, large silver crosses, and their constant companionship with packs of German Shepherds, which they raised and walked openly" - Google A.I.

I'd love to go off on a big monologue regarding this Process Church connection, but isn't it all just weird enough without further comment? Again, I think a degree of this is simply shock value and seeing how far things can be taken in a certain direction.

What PL-01 stands for, I'm not sure, but will work it into a future blog if I find out something worth noting regarding that.

The inner vinyl sleeve contains a painting depicting a different angle of the album cover scene, with the following text written above it:

"Rossignol's curious, albeit simply titled book, the Origins Of A World War, spoke in terms of secret treaties, drawn up between the Ambassadors from Plutonia and Desdinova the foreign minister. These treaties founded a secret science from the stars. Astronomy. The career of evil"

This obviously gets much deeper into Pearlman's "Imaginos Mythos" which I may get more into later. For those who are curious, I will provide a link below to a long youtube video explaining it all in painfully minute detail...

RELATED:

THE CRAFT WORK OF KRAFTWERK

THE QUEEN'S REICH

IMAGINOS MYTHOS EXPLAINED

This blog was researched, written, and continues to be maintained by 1 person. If you enjoyed it and would like to encourage more of them, donations can be made by clicking the button below.

Crimson Glory: Midnight [PT 2]

According to an artcle published by the Serasota Herald-Tribune on 7.10.2009, John Patrick McDonald Jr [aka. "Midnight," singer of Crimson Glory] succumbed to his "long battle with alcoholism," which took it's inevitable toll on his body on July 8th of that year. A band statement read, "As is the case with all truly great artists, Midnight was hounded by his demons...Despite his personal demons, we always loved him and hoped that one day he would get well."

In part 1 we looked at symbolism used by Crimson Glory, and whether there may be a cohesive theme to it all. I came to the conclusion that a vague "air of mystery" was really the only common denominator tying it all together, which Midnight seemed to take most seriously of all - possibly to the detriment of his own mental and physical health.

We noted Crimson Glory's status as early pioneers of "prog metal," and the ubiquitous comparisons to Queensryche over the years, which were not without merit. We'll explore the CG/QR connection further here, and how Midnight's death seemed to coincide with Queensryche's somewhat underwealming rebirth.

STRANGE AND NOT SO BEAUTIFUL

While Crimson Glory's 2nd album "Transcendence" is often cited by fans as their benchmark recording, the following 1991 album "Strange and Beautiful" was taken as a sharp nose-dive. It seemed to alienate their loyal die-hard heavy metal fanbase while also failing to reach a decidedly more mainstream audience, whom they appear to have been targeting. Whether this was a "musical failure" or a "promotional failure" is up for debate, but I would guess it was an equal combination of both - along with some unfortunate timing.

Midnight had a big influence on 'Strange and Beautiful'. On our first two albums, he contributed one song for each. However, he was very adamant about contributing more of his own songs on S&B; lyrics, guitars, arrangements, ect... And it completely changed our style and musical direction to the degree that Jeff and I refused to record any more albums until we could recapture the spirit and original direction we had envisioned for the band in the beginning. - Jon Drenning

It sounds to me like Drenning is blaming Midnight's selfish musical demands for the collossal failure known as "Strange and Beautiful," which probably wasn't too good for Mr McDonald's ego. Drenning even goes a step further, insinuating that him and Jeff Lords delivered a sort of ultimatum to Midnight, as a direct result of his apparent derailment of the band's "original spirit." Could this be what set him off into 7 years of self-imposed exile?

[Ravi Jakotia replaced Dana Burnell on drums just before the recording of "Strange and Beautiful." He has since worked with NBC, CBS, Mariah Carey, the NFL, Hugh Hefner, Gap, and all sorts of other mainstream entities.]

But was it really fair or even accurate to say that Midnight was mainly responsible for the musical direction, and ultimate failure of "Strange and Beautiful?" Drenning's quote above states him and Jeff refused to do any more recordings until they could capture the band's "original direction." Yet, the very next thing they did after replacing Midnight was take all of the most commercial aspects of S&B and fuse them into a typical 90s blend of Funk/Metal/Alternative, via the shortly lived project known as Erotic Liquid Culture [originally known as the Arizona based Crush].

["Astronomica," Crimson Glory's triumphant "return to form" album.]

THE LOST TAPE

Apparently the 90s Funk/Metal route did not pan out for the boys out in Arizona, and by 1996 they came back to Florida and knocked on Midnight's door. "but he was not interested nor was he in the right physical condition to record an album up to the band's standards." Note, this was just 5-years into Midnight's apparent 7-year self imposed exile. And while I don't like to assume the worst, stating that he wasn't in "the right physical condition" lends itself to the idea that he was hittin the bottle hard. I wonder why?

While David Van Landing [R.I.P] replaced Midnight for the Erotic Liquid Culture digression, Wade Black was chosen to fill Midnight's shoes for Crimson Glory's triumphant "return to form" album [Astronomica], which curiously did NOT include Mr Funkmeister Ravi Jakotia. And while Midnight seems to get the blame for the failures of S&B, it's noteworthy that the recording of that album coincided with Ravi joining the band, who's "more tribal" contributions to the music seemed to evade any negative scrutiny, eventually leading Drenning and co. knee deep into 90s Funk/Metal drudgery before abandoning ship and going back to square one without him. In other words, the percieved "decline" of CG seemed to start when Ravi joined, and ended when he left! To be fair though, Ravi may have just been a symptom of a larger flawed strategy concocted by the think tank at Atlantic records, but who knows for sure?

Although work on "Astronimica" probably started as early as 1996, the album didn't come out until 1999. Many fans were curious why it took 3 years for the album to come out?

Well, it is true that we completety lost all of our original source data as well as all of our backup data while recording the album the first time. We were also missing cartridges which contained data for the songs...it was very strange indeed. It caused us a lot of concern... We even contemplated leaving the state of Florida and going somewhere else to record the record to prevent this from happening again. We didn't know 'who' or 'why' anyone would do this - but whoever it was 'intentionally' did this to us. . Unfortunately, we never discovered who the culprits were. In any event, we had to completely start over. - Drenning

Now let's check back in with our friend Midnight around this time...his Wikipedia entry lists a recording called "The Lost Tape." Why does that ring a bell? Oh that's right, the guys in Crimson Glory also "lost a tape" around the same time! More specifically, they lost source "data" and "cartridges" for the as yet unreleased "Astronomica" album. According to Drenning, this theivery was done "intentionally" by someone they were never able to identify, nor could they understand the motive behind it. Drenning and co. even contemplated leaving Florida in order to avoid the same thing from happening again. Well it just so happens that Midnight moved from Florida to Texas right around this same time, just after having "lost a tape" containing 6 months worth of recordings! That is the story behind the mythical "Lost Tape" listed on Midnight's Wiki profile for 1998, which was just a year before CG released "Astronomica." In other words, right about the time Drenning says THEIR "tapes" went missing. Now I don't want to jump to any wild conclusions here, but what are the odds that the recordings CG "lost" and the ones that Midnight "lost" right around the same time, just when they were considering recording an album together again, was THE SAME RECORDING?

There are many stories about this recording. Midnight had teamed up with a local blues band and recorded Pain, Boxes, Seven Angels, Black Sheep, Monkey Song, and Tea For Two at Beyond Sound Studios in Sarasota with a guy named Angus. Full band recording. On a trip to Texas, Midnight lost the actual reel to reel multi track tape. No back ups were made and so the tape is presumed lost for good. At the time Midnight was trying to get a record deal and losing the tape was a huge setback. - allsoulsmidnight.com

Midnight eventually released a limited number of mostly acoustic oriented recordings, first under the "Songs from the Attic" moniker and then later "M," which added a few additional songs and effects. Apparently many of these were limited CD-R recordings, and are pretty rare.

Midnight again kept a pretty low profile until his trip to Greece around March, 2005, for the final mastering/production process of his album "Sakada," which we spoke of in part 1. The picture of him above playing acoustic guitar was taken from an intimate performance he gave there at a small bar or something. While the Sakata recording itself is descent enough for what it is, the footage for the above performance is not very flattering. In fact, it's kind of sad.

[The above image was taken from a video filmed in Greece in 2006. It was either the last, or one of the last performances of CG with Midnight on vocals]

[Midnight's [final?] photo session, taken for Headache Magazine. It captures a decidedly darker and somber countenance, contrasting his wild blonde look of the 80s]

METATRON, LUCIFER, AND THE DIVINE CHAOS

In April of 2006, CG announced that Midnight would be re-joining the band and singing on a new album, with the understated working title of "Metatron, Lucifer, and the Divine Chaos". It was also announced that Midnight would re-record vocals upon a newly remixed version of "Astronomica," which was supposed to be their big comback album in the late 90s. The band also announced they would be appearing (presumably with Midnight on vocals) at Rockway Festival in Greece, on May 1st. All of this seemed to coincide with Midnight and CG's connection to Greece's Black Lotus Records. But the hype was short lived, when Black Lotus abruptly announced they were bankrupt and dropped all existing contracts with bands. Although this must have taken quite a bit of wind out of their sales, CG seemed initially committed to tour Europe despite the setback.

[Apparent mugshot photo, taken of Midnight in 2007 after having been arrested for driving under the influence]

"On January 22, 2007, Midnight was arrested and charged with driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level of .20 or higher. Four days later, the band parted ways with Midnight, saying it would be difficult to work with him "as his current state of mind and his present physical condition would impede plans we have in place for future appearances, releases and recordings.""

John Patrick McDonald Jr.'s dark and obscure journey ended on July 8th, 2009, when he died at 3:30am "in hospital with family, friends and bandmates by his side...Although the press initially stated total kidney and liver failure, the real cause of death was a stomach aneurysm." Plans to record the "Divine Chaos" album seemed to have been abandoned at that point. A "tribute show" was announced on July 5th 2009, where the band would headline the ProgPower 10 festival in Atlanta, Georgia. The date? September 11, 2009.

["my dream was always to be a famous rock drummer" - Todd La Torre, who assumed vocal duties in Crimson Glory after the death of Midnight, and later joined Queensryche, replacing Geoff Tate.]

IT JUST HAPPENED

I'm not saying it isn't plausible, but it's pretty extraordinairy when some drummer playing full time in Florida's cover band circuit for 20 plus years suddenly finds himself on stage doing the lead vocal parts of a singer some think rivaled Geoff Tate in the 80s. It's even more extraordinary when that same drummer - er, I mean, SINGER, resigns from that band while en route to REPLACE Geoff Tate himself in Queensryche!

The short version of this extraordinary journey is summed up by Todd thusly: "It just happened." The long version starts with ProgPower 10 in 2009, where Crimson Glory was apparently asked to play. They ended up headlining, and promoting it as a Memorial Show to Midnight, with a series of guest vocalists. On 9/11/2009. Todd "was added a few weeks prior by Matt LaPorte [RIP]."

"It is both a privilege and an honor to perform at this well-established and highly respected American metal fest, and we see this as a beautifully serendipitous opportunity to pay a final and meaningful tribute to Midnight in a truly special manner by including the fans, as well as a stretching of our collective wings in anticipation of a new era of CRIMSON GLORY." - Statement by the band"

The list of guest vocalists who sang on this "serendipitous" occassion included Wade Black (Crimson Glory/Leatherwolf), Zak Stevens (Savatage/Circle II Circle), Lance King (Pyramaze/Balance of Power), Nils K. Rue (Pagan's Mind), Chris Salinas (Zero Hour/Power of Omens), Ronny Monroe (Metal Church), Andy B. Franck (Brainstorm/Symphorce/Ivanhoe), Sean Peck (Cage), Danilo Herbert (Mindflow), Joakim Brodén (Sabaton), Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus), Urban Breed (Tad Morose), Rob Rock (Impellitteri), Mark Boals (Royal Hunt), Clay Barton (Suspyre), Kelly Sundown (Beyond Twilight/Darkology), David Van Landing (Crimson Glory/Michael Schenker Group), and of course, Todd La Torre.

On May of 2010, CG announced to the world that Todd was their new singer. His first show with them occurred on October 30th of that same year, and a tour, dubbed "Phoenix Rising," commenced on 4.28.2011.

RISING WEST

Red gates of iron cast their black shadows on this land, dividing souls far below. The gathering winds, the army's watch are RISING from the WEST, fortelling news of freedom's hand - Before the Storm, from Queensryche's "The Warning" album

Crimson Glory seemed fairly stable for the next couple of years after recruiting their new drum - I mean SINGER--- but a new album remained evasive [was kind of wondering if they'd revive the old "Metatron, Lucifer, and the Divine Chaos" idea]. Then something very interesting happened in May of 2012. The ubiquitous comparisons to Queensryche throughout the years seemed to manifest into a bridge, connecting the 2 bands via Todd La Torre, who was asked to join the side project of Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson, and Scott Rockenfield. The latter 3 individuals had just fired Geoff Tate from Queensryche, and needed to do something while legal court proceedings were in process. Hense - Rising West was born.

With Todd La Torre as their vocalist, Crimson Glory was working on a demo entitled "Garden of Shadows." But I guess the SHADOWS grew too long on this GARDEN, and Todd announced he was leaving the group at some point in 2013, approximately 3 years into his tenure with them. On 4.28.2014 Todd's bandmates in Rising West won the legal rights to the Queensryche trademark and Rising West effectively BECAME the new Queensryche, with Todd La Torre formally taking Geoff Tate's vacant position.

PERSONAL DEMONS

This journey into the history of Crimson Glory and their time with Midnight has left me significantly unsettled and unresolved with regard to my attempts at an interpretation of what it all means. More than anything, there's a palpable feeling of sadness and wonder. Why couldn't someone or something extract Midnight from whatever dark abyss pulled inexorably at him? I suppose the most conclusive statement I've read on the topic is right at the top of this page, taken directly from the band:

"As is the case with all truly great artists, Midnight was hounded by his demons..."

Of course, there's always more to the story. And if you've read my blogs or watched my videos regarding Queensryche, then you are probably familiar with my loose theory that a "proper sacrifice" was never made for their fame and fortune, at least not in any form I can conclusively detect. This seems to me, a possible explanation for the band's painfully long decline over the years, followed by a decidely messy and well publicized implosion. Without a suitible sacrifice, the band abandoned any hopes at recapturing whatever mystical energy pushed them into mild mainstream success in the early 90s, and settled back, for a time, into whatever was left of their loyal "prog metal" fan base.

With all of the comparisons to Queensryche and the passing of Midnight, Crimson Glory has perhaps been doomed [or blessed, depending on who you ask] to inhabit the sacred halls of underground progressive metal for eternity, never to see their own "Silent Lucidity" or "Jet City Woman" rise to the top of the charts.

Maybe the true purpose of Crimson Glory was to provide a sacrificial altar, upon which their enigmatic singer would be offered up, not necessarily for his own band, but for another. I don't know about you, but that would probably turn me into an emotional wreck and I'd need to do something about it. Midnight "did something about it," and it destroyed him.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia, Epigram for the last straw, Blabbermouth, Bravewords.com, heartofmetal.niceboards.com, www.allsoulsmidnight.com, alchetron.com, metal-temple.com, youtube, google, www.heraldtribune.com

RELATED:

The Queen's Reich

This blog was researched, written, and continues to be maintained by 1 person. If you enjoyed it and would like to encourage more of them, donations can be made by clicking the button below.