Gianluca Becuzzi
Hekate
ITALY DISSIPATIO DISS023 CD (2024)
Fine disc of atmospheric music from this Italian creator based in Rome and active since the 1980s as Limbo (then Saint Luka, Kinetix, Metaform…) All the LP covers on his Bandcamp page display black and white photography, and this spooker likewise conforms to that scheme. Becuzzi is the principal composer and player on various guitars and basses, plus sampling and programming, joined by guests Adriano Xanni, Andrea Bellucci, Daniele Santagiuliana, and Deison.
The figure of Hekate (sometimes Hecate) appears in both Greek and Roman mythology, and the six track titles here indicate that Becuzzi has done his research into the many fascintating manifestations of Hekate, referring to her “three faces”, the ‘Cthonic Cult’, and using the word “psychopomp”, an entirely appropriate Greek word which means “guider of souls”. The origins, the iconography, the functions and meanings of this figure are subject to much interpretation, and even the etymology of her name is open to discussion, to say nothing of the shrines, cults, and sanctuaries erected in her name in the worlds of antiquity. However, there is consensus about certain elements – the night, the moon, the dogs, the dead and the ghosts, all of which figure in Becuzzi’s framing. He is particularly keen that we see Hekate as ‘The First Witch’ – Track 03 explicitly states as much – and his concise liner note asserts that “she is an inescapable reference for understanding the origins of witchcraft and black magic in Europe”, which strongly suggests he is as well-informed on these matters as Piero Camporesi and Carlo Ginzburg, fellow Italian scholars of the early modern.
Even the carefully-constructed cover montage depicts the two dogs and shows our heroine floating in the air, made all the more eerie when you realise the photo itself has been inverted and the ground is not where it ought to be. In like manner, Gianluca Becuzzi’s spectral drones, menacing percussive sounds, and terrifying heavy-metal guitar blasts all conspire to disorient the senses, letting the mind and soul roam freely through a dark and unknowable zone of uncertainty. All of this is entirely in keeping with similarly occult-themed releases from this label, especially those by Simon Balestrazzi and label owner Nicola Quiriconi. (18/04/2024)