Black Mass Lucifer (released in 1971) was one of the first albums to be made entirely using synthesizers. Despite this distinction, its origin is abiguous at best; it has no wikipedia entry and of the handful of rare vinyl sites that do mention it, none are certain whether the band is Black Mass and the title Lucifer, or the other way round.
What is known is that the record was written and composed by Mort Garson, graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and prolific writer/arranger/conductor of the 1960’s. Looking at the huge pentagram on the album cover, one could be forgiven for assuming Black Mass Lucifer to be merely some cheesy, forgotten black metal abomination, but no.

The truth is much, much weirder.

In fact, Black Mass Lucifer is equal parts Brian Eno-esque trippy melodic meanderings, inspired Moog psychedelia, movie soundtrack bombast and neo-tribal polyrhythms that would have no parallel until Juno Reactor came along over twenty years later. Add that to the fact that the names of most of the tracks are vague “Satanic” references – “The Evil Eye”, “Exorcism”, “Witch Trial” – it is no exaggeration to say that Mr. Garson had the mysterious electronic musician market cornered when Aphex Twin was just a twinkle in some windowlicker’s eye.

For being over 25 years old, Black Mass Lucifer holds up remarkably well, betraying almost no clues to its age, mostly because there is so little to compare it to. The tracks are masterfully composed, and while occasionally a certain pad or snare drum may catch the astute listener’s attention due to its familiarity, the vast majority of the sounds on the album persist in their utterly alien quality, even after repeated listens. Imagine playing four Erik Satie records simultaneously, through a stereo with a blown out subwoofer while watching Fantasia with the sound turned off. That would sound nothing at all like Black Mass Lucifer, but it sure would be cool to try.

That is the sort of thing you find yourself thinking of when listening to this album.

The point is that Black Mass Lucifer is a weird fucking record and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Love it or hate it, it cannot be denied that it exists in a category all its own, its mere existence a mystery, like an artifact from another universe, or those weird crystal skulls George Lucas made that shitty movie about. But Black Mass Lucifer is the opposite of a reprehensible desecration of a time-honored franchise. Black Mass Lucifer is the real deal: an unsolvable mystery that all the 0s and 1s of the Information Age can’t crack. It’s the Temple of Doom if the Temple of Doom had been directed by Fellini, shot on black and white and then lost for thirty years, only to resurface as a dusty 16mm reel sold for $0.75 at a yard sale.

No one knows how many copies of the original LP still survive. This music is the reason mp3 blogs were invented.

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