Dua Sutekh
EP, July 2020
22:24 min.
1. Creation’s Frontier [5:03]
2. Dua Sutekh [2:36]
3. Prince of the Darkest Heavens [4:30]
4. Snakedance [6:00]
5. Going Forth By Dawn [4:15]
My first release, a collection of devotional music for Set, intended for use in rituals and worship services. (This EP was re-released in 2021 with a few of my singles included as bonus tracks.)
In the Desert of Set (Main Title)
Single, August 2020
04:32 min.
1. In the Desert of Set (Main Title) [4:32]
This is the main title track for my podcast, In the Desert of Set, in which I discuss ancient history, classic monster movies, and lots of other fun stuff. (This single is included as a bonus track in the 2021 Dua Sutekh re-release.)
Mantis Religiosa (Dua Abyt)
Single, September 2020
07:44 min.
1. Mantis Religiosa (Dua Abyt) [7:44]
A piece I wrote for the artist Setken’s mini-documentary, The Praying Mantis God of Ancient Egypt (2020), which investigates a little-known Egyptian deity named Abyt. (This single is included as a bonus track in the 2021 Dua Sutekh re-release.)
Summer’s End
LP, October 2020
41:05 min.
1. Scarecrow [4:30]
2. O Hallowed Night [2:51]
3. Trick or Treat [5:03]
4. Chiroptera [3:33]
5. Rise, Het-Sem-Peckinpah [4:13]
6. Thurisaz [4:22]
7. Haunted House [5:38]
8. Give Up The Ghost [3:53]
9. November [4:10]
10. See You Next Year [2:51]
Summer’s End (2020) is the music for my imaginary “Halloween” movie, an anthology of vignettes featuring a scarecrow, some trick-or-treaters, a serial killer version of Batman, a gunslinger mummy, some witches casting runes, a haunted house, a life after death experience, and people visiting a cemetery to remember their deceased loved ones. This is my only record so far that isn’t specifically about ancient Egyptian or Mesopotamian themes, but certain tracks are nevertheless dedicated to Set (“See You Next Year”), Osiris (“Scarecrow”), Nephthys (“November”), and Anubis (“Rise, Het-Sem-Peckinpah”). “Haunted House” is an homage to John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), which is what made me want to create a project like this in the first place when I was 11 years old or so. The overall point of Summer’s End is to reflect on the true spiritual meanings of Halloween, which have to do with memorializing people we love who are gone, and with being ready for weird shit to happen when summer dies and bleeds into winter…
His Nocturnal Majesty
LP, November 2020
50:31 min.
1. Disturber of the Dark (Main Theme) [4:30]
2. Shieldmaiden of Set [3:53]
3. Ma’at’s Lament [5:34]
4. Winged Scarab [4:20]
5. Hierophant [5:38]
6. Powers of Isfet [2:50]
7. Typhonian Beast [1:57]
8. Knights in Sutekh’s Service [4:58]
9. Giver of Winds [5:19]
10. Repel the Ungod [2:56]
11. Beyond the Seventh Star [3:56]
12. Disturber of the Dark (End Theme) [4:34]
His Nocturnal Majesty (2020) is my imaginary “Apocalypse” movie soundtrack. It’s meant to be a tale of several heroes being brought together by Set from across the world to fight Apep, the Chaos Serpent, face-to-face. It is strongly inspired by Jerry Goldsmith’s orchestral score for The Final Conflict (1981), as well as by John Carpenter’s electronic soundscapes for Prince of Darkness (1987). I was first exposed to these and other key influences during the Y2K hysteria of 1999, and they made me wish for a Setian-themed apocalyptic thriller. I have never been able to write a good enough story that I think would actually live up to this premise (others are welcome to try!), but after composing Summer’s End, I saw no reason not to do the same thing with His Nocturnal Majesty. (There might not be a movie or even any real plot or characters, but at least there’s music now, dammit!) And in this imaginary end-of-the-world epic, it’s the “dark and scary devil god” who saves everybody from the forces of evil (or “Powers of Isfet”) in the end.
Hymn to the Soul Serpent (Hymn to Nehebukau)
(With Setken)
EP, December 2020
23:56 min.
1. Hymn to the Soul Serpent (Hymn to Nehebukau) [4:42]
2. Hymn to the Soul Serpent (Python Reticulatis Mix) [7:02]
3. Hymn to the Soul Serpent (Nehebukau Mix) [4:49]
4. Hymn to the Soul Serpent (Ecdysis Mix) [7:02]
Adapted from Setken’s blurb:
Nehebukau is a lesser known Egyptian god, but a powerful deity nonetheless; and this song is a prayer and a magick that evokes the deity Himself, as well as the nine aspects of the soul that the Egyptians articulated.
This music provides the score for a short film project. Industrial ambient techno composed by G.B. Marian forms the luscious backbone of this track, whilst the video features lyricist and director Setken indulging his fascination with Athletic Model Guild (AMG)-style films and Kemetic iconography, with ten of his paintings featuring Nehebukau being shown throughout.
Midnight Mass
Single, December 2020
24:30 min.
A Setian midnight mass performed and recorded for an imaginary AM radio station. (This single is included as a bonus track in the 2021 Dua Sutekh re-release.)
Pazuzu Saves
LP, May 2021
49:43 min.
1. King of the Demons (Main Theme) [4:12]
2. The Incantation Bowl [4:46]
3. A Thief is the Daughter of Heaven [4:48]
4. Things That Should Not Be [3:13]
5. Crosses Won’t Stop Them [3:09]
6. Mountain Ascent [6:49]
7. Breaking the Wings of the Wind [5:57]
8. “Evil” Against Evil [6:42]
9. Life After Birth [3:56]
10. Pazuzu Saves (End Theme) [6:05]
Pazuzu Saves (2021) is, on the one hand, my response to William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist (1973); on the other, it’s inspired by Tangerine Dream’s score for a movie called Sorcerer (1977), which has nothing to do with anything spiritual (or DOES IT?!). The story for Pazuzu Saves refers to actual Mesopotamian tales of the wind god Pazuzu protecting human mothers and children from Lamashtu and other hellish monsters. It is about processing trauma from horrific abuse, and it is about fighting to protect those who can’t protect themselves. (Despite being the villain in the Exorcist movies, Pazuzu is really a much-needed force for good in this world.) It is hard for me to pick a favorite track from this album, but “‘Evil’ Against Evil” was probably most challenging and fun for me to put together. Using the earlier themes for Pazuzu (“King of the Demons [Main Theme]”) and Lamashtu (“A Thief Is The Daughter Of Heaven”) to “choreograph” their final showdown in music was a profoundly satisfying magical experience.
Set Is Now
LP, June 2021
40:50 min.
1. Setian Prayer [5:02]
2. Morningstar [5:53]
3. Deception of a Generation [9:55]
4. Mama Riverhorse (Taweret) [14:10]
5. In the Name of Sutekh [5:48]
Set Is Now (2021) is my first full-length album to feature lyrics, and it also deviates from my usual “imaginary movie soundtrack” format. When I awakened to my true Setian identity at age 14, I wanted to start a gods damn band and write cool songs for Set that would make all the goth ladies at my school swoon. And when I met the other three Setian kids with whom I would eventually start the LV-426 Tradition, we would have our rituals for Set together out in the woods at night. Oh how I miss frolicking around in the dark together like that, headbanging with Big Red to some Black Sabbath and Emperor! Set Is Now probably doesn’t sound like either of those artists at all, but it really comes from all of these things put together—discovering Set as a teenager, and the various blessings and struggles that went along with going through this in Satanic Panic America.