Ritualistic Pagan Sacrifice

This is the debut album by the 60s/70s band Comus. The album follows a single theme involving the Greek goddess of virginity and the hunt, Diana, tracking a stag into the woods, whereupon she encounters Comus, the son of Bacchus (god of wine and revelry) and Hecate the witch. Comus entices the reluctant Diana into his cave, where he rapes and murders her. Distraught with grief, Comus morphs into several forms representing his manifold identities: a wolf, an observer in the execution of a Christian, and ultimately an insulin shock therapy patient. This album represents, in my humble opinion, some of the greatest music to come out of the 60s/70s. Because of its thematic nature, it must be listened to in its entirety, from beginning to end, to be fully appreciated. After its debut, First Utterance met with little fanfare due to its graphic nature and darkly abstract stylistics. Today however, it has regained popularity in niche groups, and continues to be celebrated as a definitively pagan and folk recording.