Single Song
Astrophobos - Poem by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
Beauty Concealing Cosmic Terror
About the Poem
In Astrophobos, H. P. Lovecraft gradually introduces one of the central themes of his cosmic philosophy. Rather than presenting horror immediately, he first depicts the night sky as beautiful, peaceful and awe-inspiring. As the poem unfolds, however, this apparent beauty slowly reveals a far darker truth.
Behind the splendor of the stars lies an indifferent universe inhabited by unknown and incomprehensible forces. The heavens, once symbols of wonder, become reminders of humanity's insignificance, where beauty ultimately conceals fear, death and the unknown.
Musical Interpretation
The composition begins with a spacious ambient introduction that slowly develops before transforming into an aggressive progressive metal riff. Throughout the piece, Greek traditional musical influences are woven into the heavier musical language, creating a dialogue between ancient musical heritage and modern progressive metal.
One stanza serves as the recurring chorus throughout the song. Initially, it reflects the fascination and beauty of the night sky. As the narrative progresses and the poem reveals its cosmic horror, those same words acquire an entirely different meaning. The unchanged chorus becomes a powerful contrast, highlighting the illusion of beauty while revealing the terrifying reality that Lovecraft believed lay hidden beyond the stars.
Lyrics
In the midnight heavens burning
Thro’ ethereal deeps afar,
Once I watch’d with restless yearning
An alluring, aureate star;
Ev’ry eye aloft returning,
Gleaming nigh the Arctic car.
Mystic waves of beauty blended
With the gorgeous golden rays;
Phantasies of bliss descended
In a myrrh’d Elysian haze;
And in lyre-born chords extended
Harmonies of Lydian lays.
There (thought I) lies scenes of pleasure,
Where the free and blessed dwell,
And each moment bears a treasure
Freighted with a lotus-spell,
And there floats a liquid measure
From the lute of Israfel.
There (I told myself) were shining
Worlds of happiness unknown,
Peace and Innocence entwining
By the Crowned Virtue’s throne;
Men of light, their thoughts refining
Purer, fairer, than our own.
Thus I mus’d, when o’er the vision
Crept a red delirious change;
Hope dissolving to derision,
Beauty to distortion strange;
Hymnic chords in weird collision,
Spectral sights in endless range.
Crimson burn’d the star of sadness
As behind the beams I peer’d;
All was woe that seem’d but gladness
Ere my gaze with truth was sear’d;
Cacodaemons, mir’d with madness,
Thro’ the fever’d flick’ring leer’d.
Now I know the fiendish fable
That the golden glitter bore;
Now I shun the spangled sable
That I watch’d and lov’d before;
But the horror, set and stable,
Haunts my soul for evermore.