‘The mischief thus wrought, he flew with wonderful force and to not little fears of the assembly, out of the church in a hideous and hellish likeness’ (Reverend Abraham Fleming, 1577)

When we were growing up, the film that never failed to put my brothers and I on edge was the 1939 Basil Rathbone adaptation of Sherlock Holmes’ of The Hound Of The Baskervilles.  Simpler times.  Now, The Breedling has conjured an album that perfectly captures the same sinister foreboding that we experienced all those years ago.

The Breedling is the one-person electronic instrumental project of Chris Spalton and A Straunge And Terrible Wunder is his third album.  It tells the tale of Black Schuck, a giant hellhound who stalked sixteenth century East Anglia.  The opening side, Origins, imagines the time when Black Schuck was said to have ravaged the countryside.  The second, Undying, speaks to how such folklore becomes embedded in both memory and landscape.

Drawing on industrial percussion, drone fuelled swells, bleakly pulsing electronics, and lingering field recordings, The Breedling transports us to the very heart of the darkness with an undeniable cinematic flourish.  Lashing rain.  Thunderous, lightning slashed skies.  Church doors erupting open.  Drooling jaws snapping.  Solitary hellish eye aflame.

Sonically, if you merge in your mind two of Mick Harris’ electronic projects – early Scorn and latter-day Lull – you won’t be too far away.  Amid the haunting skeletal piano of Aftermath, the ominously roiling Scorched And Shrivelled, the whispered dread of Stalker, and the clanking agitation of Leaden Fury, it proves a deeply atmospheric journey.