Let me start with quoting the back of the booklet: “The Pact… Of The Gods” is the companion cd to “The Pact: Flying In The Face” [that was released some time ago]. The original idea was conceived by Ian Read and the late Robert Williams”. It is compiled by Ian Read and Michael Moynihan and the latter participates in several of the contributions with Annabel Lee.
The opening track is for the godfathers of neo-folk: Changes. Then Der Blutharsch has a tranquil and very good track. Some nice tunes are then presented by Fire + Ice and Ataraxia contributed a song from their 1995 cd La Malédiction d’Ondine. The Austrian occultist Kadmon presents a tranquil ‘orchestral ambient’ track with Allerseelen and then we hear a very nice folky song by In Gowan Ring. The first negative thing on the cd is from Camerata Mediolanense who can be found with a live song with a horrible sound. Blood Axis worked a bit on their contribution to the “Saturn Gnosis” and this is a very minimal track that you may have to get used to. The booklet has the ‘original’ face of the “Saturn Gnosis” cover to accompany the Blood Axis information and it doesn’t look a bit like Anton LaVey anymore (see my “Saturn Gnosis” review). The first band that I didn’t know is Shining Vril (a project of John Murphy) with an ‘organ ambient’ track which is quite nice. Another band that I didn’t know is next: Mee. Minimal ambient to accompany female vocals, a bit long for my taste. The Forseti song can be found on their Eis & Licht 10” “Jenzig” and the Ostara song is taken from the “Secret Homeland” cd that was released a while back. A wonderfull folk song from Waldteufel is followed by some spoken work of Dave Lee and the closer-off is for Beastianity with a chaotic ‘industrial punk’ track so to say.
All in all I think that the largest part of this compilation is really worthwhile. A few more exclusive tracks may have maded it a bit more interesting, but people who are not too familiar with this music and/or those who can’t keep up with the (vinyl) releases can be pleased with “The Pact… Of The Gods”.
Get your copy from Tesco!