DESCRIPTION:
PAUL ROLAND 'HEXEN' New Album on Palace of Worms

English cult psych-baroque singer-songwriter Paul Roland has always had a fascination with magic and the supernatural, but only now with his new album 'HEXEN' has his obsession manifested in music designed to raise the very devil himself. Ever since his first album 'The Werewolf of London' was released in 1980 Roland has drawn inspiration from horror movies, fiction and comics with songs such as 'Blades of Battenburg', 'Lon Chaney', 'Edgar Allen Poe' and 'Re-Animator'. Whether it was with full gothic rock band or solo acoustic guitar and classical string and woodwind ensembles Roland created miniature movies for the listener to visualise in their own personal cinema of the mind, but now he has created an actual full-length movie soundtrack for the classic silent horror film 'Haxan' (1922) and produced an album that evokes disturbing and haunting images so you will never rest easy in your beds again.

"I had been wanting to record a special album for my dear friend Guido at Palace of Worms for some time. His catalogue of neo gothic medieval music and the tasteful covers that he created for his releases have been tantalizing me for several years. So as soon as I was free to record a 'side project', I took the opportunity to rework an abandoned silent movie soundtrack that had been haunting me since 2007 and made it the basis for a new album - one which would hopefully complement POW's other releases.
While living in Germany in 2006 I had found a film project that I thought would be good to create with my musician friends - Ralf Jesek of In My Rosary (now I-M-R) and Tobias Birkenbeil of Lakobeil. We were later joined by Niko Steckelberg and Joran of Elane when it came to recording the accompanying soundtrack CD (which was to include 3 songs not featured in the film as I didn't want songs in a silent movie.)
'Haxan' was a remarkable Danish horror movie from 1922 with a cult following and a reputation as an early classic of the silent era. It was also in incredibly good condition for a film of that age and the imagery was striking. But the various soundtracks that had been used on earlier DVD releases (including a free jazz jam, an orchestral score, an industrial rock soundtrack and a solo dulcimer performance) were wholly unsuitable in my opinion and added nothing to the stunning visuals. We would write and record a new soundtrack that would be scene-specific, suitably sinister and evocative so the music could be listened to separately as an album.
I would also write an entirely new script to generate 30 or so inter-title cards to replace the hundred or more inter-title cards in the original film and reduce the number and the length of their appearance on screen considerably to speed up momentum. I would also replace the slow, stilted text-only prologue with spoken narration and have it underscored with atmospheric music, delete damaged frames and edit the gallery of woodcuts and illustrations which appeared between scenes to tighten the pace for a modern audience. And all this was possible because 'Haxan' was in the public domain (ie out of copyright). Or so I thought.

After almost a year of intense work we had our finished film and were very proud of having created a 'new work' that enhanced the director's extraordinary vision and intensified the drama. But after securing a DVD release we were informed that the Swedish(!) Film Institute claimed to own European rights to the film (public domain appears to be mainly an American concept) and they stubbornly refused to grant us permission to release it!
But I refused to admit defeat. If I couldn't release the film, I would at least let the music be heard. So when I was looking for a suitable album to record for Palace of Worms I decided to create it around some of the music written and recorded for 'Haxan', but with the addition of new songs inspired by the same theme -- the contrast between pagan nature worship and the religious fanaticism that culminated with the persecution of alleged witches in the Middle Ages.
So find yourself a quiet cloister or nook in the woods and see if these tracks conjure up the movie that sinister forces forbade you to see! PR
[Selected scenes from the finished film can be seen at TheRapeseed on YouTube.]
'HEXEN' -- PAUL ROLAND with Ralf Jesek
1)Sanctus
2) Night of the Witch
3)Devil's Wood
4)Beltane
5)Wicker Man
6)As I Walked Out One Morning
7)Witch's Hovel
8)Scourge of the Lord (Jesek)
9)Benedictus
10)Monastery
11)Agnus Dei
12)Inquisitor (Jesek)
13)Nuns Possessed (Jesek)
14)Sanctus Miserere
15)Orgy In The Woods
16)Kissing The Devil's Arse

All music and lyrics by Paul Roland © Lithon Music 2013 except tracks 8, 12 and 13 written and performed by Ralf Jesek © IMR 2013.

'Hexen' is released by Palace of Worms.