The Magik Way’s Diabolic Obsession

The Magik Way popped up in my email one day entirely unbidden, crawled all up into my brain ,and refused to leave. It’s just too strange, and creepy, and intoxicating. The fact that three of its four members (Diabolic Obsession, Nequam, and Old Necromancer) did time in Italian black/death occultists Mortuary Drape and played on my favorite of their albums, Secret Sudaria, was incentive enough to press ‘Play,’ and the unsettling result was immediately addictive.
The Magik Way formed in 1996, released one album’s worth of their peculiar atmospheric black metal and ritualistic dark ambient mashup, then disappeared, surfacing once more thirteen years later with a collection of recordings from 1997-1999. It’s unsurprisingly reminiscent of Mortuary Drape in some places, but also delves into more melodic and esoteric fare, citing bands like Devil Doll, Dead Can Dance, and Ildfrost as influences and augmenting the atmosphere with clean, gothic female vocals… This shit wouldn’t sound out of place in Suspiria.

Stream Materia Occulta: 1997-1999 from Sad Sun Music below.