Halloween has its origins from early Christianity celebrating All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints Eve. The Church established a three-day observance called Allhallowtide to honor the dead.  It literally means Saints’ Evening derived from Scottish words ‘Hallowe’ meaning Saints and ‘een’ for Evening.  The symbols that surround the concept of Halloween are also rooted in Old English and Irish folklore.  To ward off evil spirits, jack-o’-lanterns were displayed or carried around. (Online Etymology Dictionary: Halloween n.d.) (Halloween Traditions n.d.)

Halloween in modern times has evolved from a merging of its early Christianity roots with secular horror novels like Frankenstein and Dracula. The dark and evil connotation associated with the skull emanates from the early Christian concept of Golgotha,

"a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life" and is consequently found in memento mori and vanitas compositions; skulls have therefore been commonplace in Halloween, which touches on this theme. Traditionally, the back walls of churches are "decorated with a depiction of the Last Judgment, complete with graves opening and the dead rising, with a heaven filled with angels and a hell filled with devils" (Leslie n.d.)

In 2017 Americans spent 3 to 4 billion dollars to celebrate Halloween festivities with spending beginning in early September.  Celebrating Halloween has had positive economic impact on the American economy with no signs of waning.  “People enjoy being scared while in a safe environment.” (Halloween in the U.S. n.d.)

Visionary Quest Records joins the celebration of Halloween with its release of its horror music album Incantation. The album was aptly named Incantation from its title song using an epic choir of female voices that dominate this track to convey the ritualistic enchantment of magic words sung and chanted to cast a spell. (The Recordings: BAPLAR: SOAS n.d.) Tito Abeleda composed and designed the sounds to capture the feeling of horror, darkness, the ominous, the supernatural, and the foreboding.  To keep in the spirit of Golgotha, the album covered was designed with the skull on a bed of bones. The songs except for the last track have been titled from old Witchcraft folklore terminology also associated with Halloween.  The last track, “Event Horizon: The Point of No Return,” was originally released as a single in 2018.  Because of its horror sound design, it has been included as a part of Incantation.  “Event Horizon: The Point of No Return” has an alternate title in music libraries as “Horror Awaits: Who Will Survive the Night.” The album tracks are as follows:

1.       Incantation

2.       Book of Shadows

3.       Invocation

4.       Necromancy

5.       Event Horizon: The Point of No Return

Incantation is set for release on October 18, 2019.  Pre-order begins on September 28, 2019.  To find Incantation, click on any of the links below:

·         Distrokid links page - http://bit.ly/IncantationAlbum_Links

·         Apple Music | iTunes - https://apple.co/2ocz5Hf

·         Google Play - http://bit.ly/Incantation_GooglePlay

For those interested in professionally licensing the songs on Incantation, click on each respective link below:

·         Incantation - http://bit.ly/Incantation_Songtradr

·         Book of Shadows - http://bit.ly/BookofShadows_Songtradr

·         Invocation - http://bit.ly/Invocation_Songtradr

·         Necromancy - http://bit.ly/Necromancy_Songtradr

·         Event Horizon: The Point of No Return - http://bit.ly/Necromancy_Songtradr

Bibliography

n.d. Halloween in the U.S. Accessed 9 28, 2019. http://www.statista.com/topics/1727/halloween-in-the-us/.

n.d. Halloween Traditions. Accessed 9 28, 2019. http://www.scotland.org/features/halloween-traditions/.

Leslie, Frank. n.d. Frank Leslie's popular monthly, Volume 40, November 1895, pp. 540-543. Accessed 9 28, 2019. https://books.google.com/books?id=x7_QAAAAMAAJ&dq=Frank%20Leslie's%20popular%20monthly%201895%20Halloween&pg=PA540#v=onepage.

n.d. Online Etymology Dictionary: Halloween. Accessed 9 28, 2019. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Halloween&allowed_in_frame=0.

n.d. The Recordings: BAPLAR: SOAS. Accessed 9 28, 2019. http://www.speechisfire.com/.