Customer Reviews

The Shadow Out of Tim

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Unlike Spaceship Zero (also a fantastic album and also for sale through Amazon), which plays outtakes of a cult sci-fi film throughout, The Shadow Out of Tim leaves no breathing room. Modeled after The Shadow Out of Time by HP Lovecraft, the album is similar in its storytelling concept to SSZ, but just rocks from "chapter" to "chapter", no pauses. Try reading along with the liner notes - the lyrics make you want to go find the original novel that inspired this CD.

Marine Biologist is the standout single, at least it is in my opinion, but not by much. Every track worms itself into the brain and multiplies - my advice is to put it in your car stereo and turn it up.

With lyrics ranging from Middle Egyptian (as in, sung in the language or something like it) to "He's got a bathyscaphe" to "Execute Operation: Get the Hell Out of Here!", Darkest of the Hillside thickets continue their punk/rock infused sf/horror styles. Even more of a concept album than their previous Spaceship Zero, this one explores many themes close to Lovecraft's heart: insanity, ships in the South-East seas, flying polyps, and insanity. Oh, and some guy goes crazy, so insanity.

The lyrics/themes aren't the only thing this album has going for it. The band's sound is more polished, and Toren Atkinson's vocals have an even better range. If you have been a fan before, I see no reason why you wouldn't even be a bigger fan, now. The "quirk" seems to be toned down a little, but it made the album stronger to me.

My favorite is almost definitely "Blackout", with "Operation: Get the Hell Out of Here" stuck in my head the most often.

For several years now, I've been avidly listening to the music of the Canadian band The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, a group that creates fantastic metal-ish, punk-ish tongue-in-cheek musical homages to the works of author H.P. Lovecraft. After a break--or some would say "drought"--of nearly 7 years, the band has released another CD, this one inspired by Lovecraft's story "The Shadow Out of Time." The new musical work, entitled THE SHADOW OUT OF TIM--it's a play on words, as the "protagonist" of the musical narrative is named Timothy--brings the story into the 21st century as it follows the experiences of a modern-day marine biologist who has an unnerving encounter with one of the Old Ones.

THE SHADOW OUT OF TIM has quickly become one of my favorites by this unique band. The musical opus adds a few twists to Lovecraft's narrative, including the linking of the legendary Yeti and the Sleestaks of 1970s Saturday-morning fame--fellow geeks know what I'm talking about--into the story, and my current favorite song on the CD, "Nyarlathotep," even connects ancient Egypt to the Lovecraft mythos (with lyrics that are in an old Egyptian dialect!).

The music of The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets has been called Horror Rock, Horror Punk, and Geek Rock. Whatever the musical genre, it's music tailor made for fans of horror, SF, H.P. Lovecraft, and rock-and-roll. If you fall into one of these categorizations, or even if you just enjoy music that's not run-of-the-mill, you're sure to enjoy THE SHADOW OUT OF TIM.

Seven years after Spaceship Zero, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets deliver another Lovecraftian powerhouse. From the full throttle rock of Blackout, to the mellow groove of Return to Melanesia, to the sinister Egyptian underpinnings of Nyarlathotep, this is hands down the most musically diverse Thickets album to date, and yet it maintains a strong theme throughout. Definitely one of the landmark albums of 2007.

I was afraid that, with other projects, the Thickets wouldn't be putting out another album.

Yay! I was wrong!

Excellent music, great theme, great idea (follow one lovecraft story instead of jumping all over, though there's nothing wrong with that either).

This is a really solid album start to finish. I've long been a fan of the Thickets (and own three other albums by them). This one has insidiously snuck its way to my favorite.

This is an unbelievably well polished CD. The songs are both excellent and push the "plot" of the story along! Execute Operation Get The Hell Out of Here has become somewhat my unofficial theme tune.

One piece of advice, do not listen to Ride the Flying Polyp with a mouthful of any sort of Beverage.

I hope the fact that I went to the bother of importing this CD to the UK speaks for itself!

Great album, well put together and produced. These guys have been around a while now and their music just get tighter. Definitely an evolution of the sound that grew out of Spaceship Zero which is a good thing. Keep it up guys.

Like Spaceship Zero, this album took me a few listens to really get into. But it definitely grew on me, like a fungi from Yoggoth. Plus, I work in biology, so the Marine Biologist track really hit home for me!

The latest Eldritch goodness from the Thickets is thirteen songs of awesome. "Marine Biologist" was my favorite on the first listen, but it's really a toss-up between the rockin' "Blackout", the careening power chords of "No Way" (cowbell!) or the languid, catchy "Return to Melanesia". Ia! Can't leave out the song currently on repeat in my iTunes, the hard-charging "Cultists on Board".

If you like to RAWK! fly your Polyp down to the store and pick up a copy. And by store I mean Amazon, and by Polyp I mean mouse.