Clark Ashton Smith — Inferno

Cadabra Records, the spoken arts label, presents five of Clark Ashton Smith's poems set to audio for the first time. Read by literary critic and novelist S.T. Joshi, Inferno follows in the footsteps of previous Cadabra releases by featuring a score by Theologian. Released in a limited run of three color variants, fans of the label would do well by snapping this up as soon as they can.

Having written nearly one thousand poems in his fifty years of activity, picking five of Clark Ashton Smith's poems isn't an easy feat. On display are "Inferno," "The Eldritch Dark," "Nyctalops," "Nightmare," and "To Howard Phillips Lovecraft." As a contemporary and fan of Lovecraft, the poems on display here are well chosen considering Cadabra's catalog. Well paced and impeccably worded, Smith's verses are vivid and terrifying, and S.T. Joshi's narration brings them to life in a wonderful fashion. Adding to this horror, Theologian's brand of haunting, dark ambient plays in the background and fills out the frightening soundscape.

Clocking in at just about eight minutes, Inferno is a quick blast of well written, well read horror coupled with grim ambient. Cadabra has a definite style, and Inferno is another great entry in their catalog. For those that have little exposure to Lovecraft's friends and contemporaries, Cadabra is doing a great job of exposing the world to these lesser known writers.