The waters of the moon bequeathed the unknown virtues of the serpent and the sword. Fragmentary, luminous bones cast the reflective light upon the numinous, the strands of the shores of our inner seas were illuminated by the depths of stars unbound. All hail the procession of masks, within benighted chambers gleam the eyes of sunless discernment. Ghostly images burn with splendour and debauchery, septenary, quaternary, we shall stand as the one beyond the black vault of the stars, serpent fingers gesture forth the veils awakening. Vomit the flames of swarming vultures to devour the wings of she who sheds perfumes of excremental ekstasis and the kiss of the dove shall excite the seven and 10 wounds of descensions perfection upon the tinctures of crimson and mauve and nothingness. –Jhon Longshaw, Black Seas of Infinity

Sometimes, an interview completely takes on a life of its own, and it becomes difficult to submit to the reader in a standard “question-and-answer” format, or even as a standalone narrative piece. Such is the case with ex-Salt Lake City resident Jhon Longshaw and his excellent black noise vehicle, Black Seas of Infinity. Longshaw is an intriguing individual, someone who harkens back to a time long past, but who still has both feet planted in the present, and I am personally a bit perturbed that I wasn’t offered a chance to speak with him longer before his relocation to Seattle, Wash.

According to Longshaw, the purpose of Black Seas of Infinity is “to awaken vacuous, seething consciousness, violating unawakened pantheons with the breath of aeonic formulations…conjuring ancient sorceries of unbecoming and averse fascinations.” The brilliantly formulated sound spewed forth by his creation is a full testament to that. I have personally been in the process of procuring as much Black Seas recorded output as possible, and although my collection is far from complete, his explanation makes perfect sense to me. “The bruised, stooping ophidian dragon induces rapture’s blind embrace. Consummation of the secretions’ profusion, and I and the earth are one.”

“The reasons for the relocation are many,” Longshaw says about his recent move to Seattle. “In some ways they do relate to Black Seas of Infinity, but most [motives] are [of]a deeply personal nature.” Not surprisingly, one of the main reasons for the move is what Longshaw refers to as “the skewed energy of the Mormons, coupled with the natural vortex that exists in Salt Lake City and Utah as a whole.” He has a very succinct and interesting way of expressing this, explaining how he feels that some people are actually able to thrive in the energy of Salt Lake City, but that, personally, he cannot. “I personally do not view [living in Salt Lake City] as a tool for my own ascension in a myriad of different directions, including that of Black Seas of Infinity and the other musical projects I am involved with, such as Death Hymen and King Heralds’ Birth of the Whore.”

Some of us in Salt Lake City were privileged enough to witness a Black Seas of Infinity’s live ritual when they presented it alongside Watain in October of 2008. For those that have never been present at one of these harrowing escapades, Longshaw explains it as follows: “A Black Seas of Infinity live ritual is the vehicle of the oracles, eternally flowing cascades of Saturnian magnification. It is the channeling of the force of nothing incarnate, inseminating the minds of men with the seed of incalculable aeons. Perpetuating eruptions of the highest gnosis upon all who experience these instruments of desire, will and manifestation … I invoke the mysteries of the 11-fold secret.

Black Seas of Infinity

Through my heart and my tongue are absorbed and consumed the eternal becoming.” If this sounds confusing to you, you should be ashamed of yourself for never having experienced the live entity that is Black Seas of Infinity. Both recording and performing live rituals are equally important to Longshaw. “The live performance encompasses the true nature of the ideologies present. To experience the live performance is to truly become one with the haunting, spectral initiations enacted upon those in attendance,” he says. However, the ideas expressed live are present within the recorded material as well.

“The true importance being that of manifestation in the form of released material or of live gatherings is the perpetuation and revealing of the mysteries that we channel through our personal magickal workings, which,” Longshaw says, “primarily, at the present time, lie within the sorceries of the crooked path.” As stated previously, I have been attempting to gather all seven available Black Seas of Infinity releases, and his explanation makes perfect sense to me, as improbable as it may sound to the casual reader. From the haunting blackness of Amrita to the almost off-putting live performance of Invokation, listening to the recorded output of Black Seas of Infinity in the discomfort of one’s home is an experience in and of itself, almost to the point of becoming claustrophobic.

“I listen to and enjoy a wide and diverse collection of music, but the influences that contribute to what I create within Black Seas of Infinity are not musical,” says Longshaw. While expressing interest in such artists as Techno Animal, Unearthly Trance, Virus, Scorn, Circle of Ouroborus and Abelcain, Longshaw is quick to point out that Black Seas of Infinity is a influenced and motivated by something altogether different. “I channel the arcanum of mysteries that can not be known or expressed within the human faculty of speech.” Longshaw admittedly composes all of the music for Black Seas of Infinity, although there is one other current member and several past members, considering that Black Seas of Infinity was initially formed as a black metal project back in 1990s. “That shall change on future releases,” Longshaw says, in reference to his being the sole composer of Black Seas’ material, “as Catamara Rosarium will also be composing material as well as permeating the material with the essence of our received transmissions.”

With Longshaw’s move to Seattle, both of the current members now reside in the same area. According to Longshaw, Rosarium has an extensive background in the arte magickal from many different perspectives and paradigms, as well as having been involved in the electronic musical schema for many years as a DJ amongst other endeavours.” Catamara’s first appearance is displayed on Black Seas’ most current release, Hieros Gamos, and Longshaw explains her as “the oracle of the fire serpent, radiating averse permutations of haunting thunders, amidst the unawakened houses of wisdom and understanding.” Past live member Cody Dickerson, an ex-Utahn in his own right, has departed the project for the time being. This is due to time restraints within other areas of his life, according to Longshaw, although his presence in Black Seas’ live rituals has not gone unappreciated. “His contributions were more scalding than the lamentation of a thousand bleeding moons,” says Longshaw.

“We are enshrouded in the mysteries of the great night of time,” Longshaw says when I express to him my inability to find much, if any, print coverage of, or interviews with, Black Seas of Infinity. “Words only serve to distort the beckoning essence of our tendrils of ekstasis. If one searches for information in the form of interviews, reviews and the written word that explores the center and extension of our outpourings they shall become as the occultem lapidem.” This automatically takes me by surprise, as this interview came about over a conversation between Longshaw and myself at the Watain show. Having known of him, but also having not actually met him, for quite some time, he seemed to me at the time of our meeting to be an extremely driven individual, and someone who might actually feel “right at home” granting interviews and sharing the secrets behind Black Seas of Infinity. His apparent denouncement of interviews at first makes me feel privileged, if not downright flattered. His later statement that there will be more press coverage in the near future “as it is time to unveil the secrets of midnight’s eden,” does nothing to shake my initial feeling. On the contrary, it actually makes me feel as though I am being given a chance to present Black Seas of Infinity to those that may be unaware of their presence for one of the first times in a published forum. As I have seemingly run out of questions for Longshaw, I allow him to complete this piece in his own words.

Serpent fingers excite the seven and 10 spheres, mutable gestures unfold the one, as flames of retreat, and desire feed demonolatria divine. Half visible, shifts of consciousness rescind absorption of the brilliance. The double wand is thine eye, for therein the petals of consummation blanket vessels of secretions and devourment. My priestess is the gateway, aeons of incalculable articulation lap at the shores induction, excremental nourishment seethes with the powers of N.O.X. Concealeth the night with my tongue, for voices of the hidden gods we are as doorways into naught exude the ingression of the blood, and the unveiling of secret objurations. As the gleam of blackness sunders the glistening waters, elder angles manifest the sublime. Ascend to the crown of wisdom to reveal the descent. Awaken chaos as intertwined streams transcend the shimmering presence, transformed with woe by the apperceivement of the ophidian flames, as it were the choir of angels drowning. Secrets of the obedient thunders under the dragon of mystery whisper the nameless putrescence of my exalted throne.

The Bleeding Sunset:
Black Seas of Infinity’s Guide to Their Own Discography
Descriptions by Jhon Longshaw

Currently Available:

Hieros Gamos
Autumn Wind Productions (2008)*

“Consisting of four compositions glorifying the marriage of gods and men. It is the dissemination of the secret art as bequeathed unto mankind by the fallen… In magnificent copulations the mysteries are revealed… All of the explorations on this release are accompanied by live ritual invocations that will transform the consciousness of the listener. Re-creating the ritual, unlocking the ophidian energies to manifest upon each listen … the fallen will arise.”

Invokation
Death Posture Ritualis (2008)*
“This is a special very limited (100 CD-R) release, recorded in 2007 during a live show in Salt Lake City, Utah. The energies, spirit and atmosphere are thicker than death and are without means for human undulations or words to describe… pure darkness.”

The Wordless Aeon Has Awakened
Death Posture Ritualis (2008)*
“Being an articulation of the monstrous, unknown potencies of the eye of the serpent unveiling the aeon which bears no name, for it is beyond the speech and utterance of the human tongue. The black flame which is concealed within the womb of its mother. The title track is a reconstruction of the first three offerings by Akhkharu, being the first original material they have released since Nos Noctium Dominarum. Comes contained within a velvet pouch with a specialised sigil adorning each as received by Marchozelos of Grauen Pestanz. Within each is also contained various physical keys of meditation that unlock the wordless aeon. These keys include human and animal bones, consecrated grave soil and various other accoutrements … ”

AMRITA: The Quintessence
Autumn Wind Productions (2008)*
“This is a concept album revolving around the vama chara or vama marg, otherwise known as the path of the left, or the path of woman, centering upon the Amrita, which is the sexual secretion of the woman in her oracular phase. These creations shall mirror the gates of ingress, congress, and egress that bestow the great magickal power.”

Black Seas of Infinity/A.E.P
Split Collaboration
Sonic Tyranny Productions/Ravenheart Productions (2008)* The unsettling, dissonant, heretical invocations of A.E.P have been intertwined with the seething otherworldy secretions of Black Seas of Infinity to create a basilisk of malignancy, to shoot forth its venomous rays unto the souls of the unwary, awakening the otherness of wisdom and becoming. Includes a collaboration between the two entitled ‘Betwixt the Words of the Dark Grammar Lies the Gate to the Secret Horizon.’ The consummation of the elixir of death will begin the transmutation. This was also released on cassette, which contains a different track listing through Ravenheart Productions.

*Contact either Black Seas of Infinity at vinumsabbati@gmail.com or Autumn Winds Productions at autumnwp.com to order.

Out-of -print Releases (may or may not be re-released in the future as limited editions with additional materials and special packaging):

The Trinity of Non Being split CD with Kaniba and Ugegi Aoiveae A Ser
Autumn Wind Productions (2006)
Kaniba is the voice from the world of spirits, channeled through to a form perceivable to man; the vessel of the spirit-bear bringing the tidings of Videovora Kaniba unto this world. Kaniba is a message of freedom, spiritual growth and an urge to seek for The Source, which is all and nothing, one and many, an encouragement for everyone to find their own Truth. Kaniba is a metamorphosing entity, choosing whatever form and appearance that suits Her tidings, unchained and uncaring of the chains and trappings of the world of men. Ugegi Aoiveae A Ser strives to reach beyond the limitations of the flesh. It is a vision of pure mind transcending boundaries that in life can not be attained. This is the audial essence of transcendental gnosis showing a bleak vision of life and that which should be strived for. This vision is cold because emotion blinds the mind. It is dark as there is no light to guide you on paths you must walk alone.

This collaboration shall serve as a vehicle to transform those who experience it.”

Within Daathian Chasms
Autumn Wind Productions (2005)
Black Seas of Infinity initiated its inception in 1993 executing raw black metal; it has now morphed into pure black noise revolving around and invoking such concepts as the gnosis of the black flame, qlippothic pathways, the current of set-typhon, and luciferian witchcraft. Even under the guise of black metal, it was dedicated to the unearthing of arcane and occult wisdom.
Due to many line-up problems, and a lack of adequate individuals, only one demo tape was created and unleashed – “Adoration of the Black Moon” – which enveloped and glorified the ideas of the averse sephirotic tree, and a peculiar mode of congress to obtain access to qlippothic emanations.

Now with the release of Within Daathian Chasms, Black Seas of Infinity unveils further the formulas and rituals pertinent to unlocking the secret nature of the magnum opus, symbolically represented by the 11th Sephira Daath. Consisting of 11 hymns of entrancement to ensnare the souls and minds of men, so that all may come to the crown of this dark wisdom. Let the seeds of N.O.X. be sown … “There are also two previous releases which consist of raw black metal. I chose to change my musical direction, for I felt that the medium of black metal was not the proper menstruum in which to express the ideas inherent within Black Seas of Infinity. These will likely never be re-released.”