RHEA TUCANAE FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH ALBUM XENOPHONE, AD INEXPLORATA RELEASE: JUNE 3, 2009 REVIEW: JUNE 23, 2009

Behind the name Rhea Tucanae we find Dan Söderqvist from classic Swedish band Twice a Man, who here has combined forces with Californian ambient artist Pixyblink. They have turned the writings of H. P. Lovecraft into music, focusing on the work “Fungi from Yuggoth”.

I think the Twice a Man sound is present, but Rhea Tucanae is more dreamlike and ambient. There's no rush; everything is allowed to take place and slowly grow. Most of the vocals are from Pixyblink and unfortunately they don’t really stand out. And this is a problem with the album as a whole, it’s almost too ambient and I would have preferred a more daring approach to the texts.

However, it’s not badly done, just a bit pale. But since I’m quite a fan of Lovecraft, this is a nice soundtrack to his work and I will for sure play this next time me and my friends explore his work through the Call of Cthulhu RPG.

TOBIAS ELIASSON