Officially VDGG’s second album, this is actually their debut; 1969’s The Aerosol Grey Machine was a solo effort by frontman Peter Hammill, reattributed due to label fuckery. This is highly theatrical progressive rock somewhat in the vein of early King Crimson, but much darker and creepier; the moment when a second voice suddenly whispers in your right ear during the opening “Darkness (11/11),” as Hammill’s main vocal howls and pants, and the band (organ, bass, drums, and saxes) churns along around him, will make you jump if you’re not ready for it. David Jackson performs the Rahsaan Roland Kirk-esque trick of playing alto and tenor saxes simultaneously, and the music is filled with surges and crescendos, Hugh Banton’s organ stabbing the ear. Hammill’s lyrics are about witch trials, sci-fi apocalypses, and other dark subjects well suited to his despairing vocals.