The cover of Weird Tales, designed by Richard himself, indicates what lies within. Read the opening note and you are already trapped within its web.
"I wanted a host to open the proceedings, rather like in an Amicus portmanteau horror film." He continues, "I’ve been looking for an excuse for years to do a piece dedicated to the wonderful actor Peter Cushing, watercolourist, vegetarian, beheader of evil Karnsteins, and so finally with this album I’ve been able to give him the starring role as master of ceremonies".
This dedication introduces us to the opening track “The Whitstable Host”. Whitstable is the town in Kent where the grand old actor lived in a house on the seafront during the latter part of his life before dying in 1994 at the age of 81. The piece opens this extraordinarily powerful album with similar scene-setting atmosphere to that of a Peter Cushing film set.
The seven minute soundscape that is “Skulls In The Stars” is inspired by Robert E. Howard’s Soloman Kane stories that appeared in the magazine Weird Tales from which the album takes it’s title. Richard is joined by a cast of guest musicians who add violin, a range of wind instruments and, of course, the ubiquitous organ. Meanwhile the multi-instrumentalist composer plays classical, electric, and bass guitars, keyboards, percussion, and more.
Cloyingly dark, Karda Estra’s ethereal music provokes powerful visual images as we are prompted to journey deeper and deeper into the recesses of our minds. “The Eye Of Silence”, inspired by the surrealist painting of the same name by Max Ernst, perfectly captures the mystery of the artwork itself.
For “Green Dog Trumpet” Richard explains that on his way home from Art College he bought a book by Ian Miller. Full of intriguing, often bizarre, sometimes gothic illustrations the first story depicted a huge dog like creature with a box shaped body with a trumpet on top. It remained set within his mind and provides the inspiration for this track.
“The White Rose” is taken from Sheridan Le Fanu’s short story The Room In The Dragon Volant. It’s haunting but doom laden beauty captures a tale of fatal love by an author renowned for Victorian ghost stories.
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