The Office of Security: A Tale of Sex, Drugs and High Weirdness Part VI

Welcome to the sixth installment in my ongoing examination of the CIA's mysterious Office of Security (OS). For those of you just joining me or trying to catch up, here is a brief rundown of what has come before:

• part one noted the backgrounds and politics of the OS personnel as opposed to Office of Strategic Services (OSS) "Old Boys" who dominated the Agency's upper hierarchy for decades
• the second installment began to consider the OS' involvement in the Watergate scandal by breaking down OS veteran James McCord's totally bungling of the second break-in and the possibility that he or one of his employees had tipped off the D.C. police off concerning the break-in
• part three focused on the likely target of the Watergate break-in, namely a prostitution ring that was being run in the nearby Columbia Plaza and using the Watergate-based DNC to recruit clients; James McCord appears to have played a key role in setting up this operation
• part four addressed the OS's extensive network of "safe houses" as well as the evidence that more than a few of these safe houses were used for blackmail operations; it also addressed the likely Watergate cabal, which was heavily represented by the OS, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) as well as the notorious American Security Council network (ASC, which this blog addressed at length before here)
• the fifth and most recent installment gave a rundown of the OS's involvement in assassinations and clean up operations (especially in regards to their involvement in the death of Frank Olson) as well a brief assessment of their role in Operation CHAOS

Frank Olson

When last I left off I had just noted that several of the New Left and Black Liberation groups targeted by Operation CHAOS developed militant splinter factions shortly after CHAOS and similar programs were initiated. The OS section that worked most closely in CHAOS was the Security Research Staff (SRS), the same unit that oversaw the notorious BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE experiments (and the same unit James McCord spent much of his CIA career in).

As promised at the end of the last installment, I shall now be moving on to BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE in earnest. Despite the fact that these Projects cast quite a shadow over many of these events already considered in this series, this researcher felt it was best to first address the non-behavior modification controversies surrounding the OS. While typically depicted as a marginal component of the CIA, the OS nonetheless turns up in many of the blackest CIA projects initiated from the Agency's inception up until the Watergate scandal.

The Office of Security was not a marginal CIA department and in fact seems to have been entrusted with many of the Agency's most secretive operations, especially on the domestic front. Reporting directly to the DCI himself (few CIA departments had such a privilege) and charged with protecting the Agency from foreign penetration, the OS can be seen is something of a Praetorian Guard for the Agency during the early days. In this context, it s not especially surprising that the OS was the CIA department entrusted with the Agency's initial forays into behavior modification and enhanced interrogation methods.

Setting the Record Straight on ARTICHOKE and MKULTRA

And that brings us to BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE. Before delving into the history of these Projects, one particular point must be made with the greatest emphasis. And that is, in brief:

BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE were in no way, shape or form a component of MKULTRA or its successor programs.

BLUEBIRD was "rolled" into ARTICHOKE some time around 1951, as has long been known, but Project ARTICHOKE did not end with the initiation of MKULTRA in 1953, as is commonly claimed. In point of fact, when ARTICHOKE ended and what happened in the aftermath is shrouded in mystery as well. In A Secret Order H.P. Albarelli cryptically notes: "From 1951 to about 1963, when the Artichoke Project was revamped and renamed..." (pg. 171).

In other words, ARTICHOKE seems to have been active until 1963, the same year MKULTRA was officially ended. Nor was ARTICHOKE the only project of this nature the OS-Security Research Staff (SRS, the branch of the OS that oversaw the behavior modification experiments) operatives were engaged in up until 1963 --the mysterious and little addressed Project QKHILLTOP was also shuttered that year after being active for nearly a decade.

Of course, as researchers of this topic are well aware, MKULTRA did not actually end in 1963, but was "revamped" as MKSEARCH and other projects in 1964. It would appear that the same thing was done to ARTICHOKE around this time as well, but very little is known about the successor program(s?) to ARTICHOKE. It is quite possible that ARTICHOKE continued running in some form or another until 1973, when the fall out from Watergate spurred the CIA to shutter these programs and destroy the records relating to them (part four addressed why Watergate was a factor in these decisions).

Nor were the BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE projects ever under the control of the Technical Services Staff (TSS) or MKULTRA head Sidney Gottlieb, as is commonly claimed. TSS and Gottlieb did have some involvement with ARTICHOKE via the so-called "Artichoke Committee," but this was very minor. Gottlieb himself described the arrangement as thus:

"... It's important to know that I was not on the ARTICHOKE team, in the ARTICHOKE group that the Office of Security or Security Research ran. My knowledge of ARTICHOKE teams stem from my attendance at conferences or meetings at which I represented technical services. ARTICHOKE and technical services were, in nearly every since of the word, separate. They had separate purposes, separate supervision, not all the time in synch with one another... The Church Committee blurred the lines between all these programs, MKULTRA, ARTICHOKE, Bluebird, QKHILLTOP, Chemical Corps, NAOMI, SHADE, all of them became one and I was... I didn't have any problem with answering for them all, but I didn't... I didn't oversee all these projects. Let's leave it at that."

(A Terrible Mistake, H.P. Albarelli, Jr., pg. 233)

Sidney Gottlieb

In point of fact, MKULTRA seems to have been started in stealth and led to something of a power struggle between ARTICHOKE head Morse Allen and Gottlieb.

"... ARTICHOKE director, Morse Allen, was engaged in a power struggle with Sidney Gottlieb for control of the project. Allen had earlier told Gaynor he had reliable reports that Gottlieb's OTS, with strong support from Wisner and Helms, was devising its own mind control program to be conducted apart from OS and OSI. Allen was upset about the extent of bureaucratic infighting within plain sight of DCI Dulles and DDCI Cabell, but Gaynor dissuaded Allen from complaining too loudly or going to the top with his unhappiness. Gaynor's advice was good, and it turned out well for Morse Allen to have heeded it. Despite the fact that OTS would soon launch its own 'mind control' program, MKULTRA, Allen would retain leadership of Project ARTICHOKE for at least a decade longer. (Contrary to many publications and written accounts, ARTICHOKE was not replaced by MKULTRA and the two projects continued to run concurrently, at least until 1958, if not longer.)"

(A Terrible Mistake, H.P. Albarelli, Jr., pg. 248) 

Brigadier General Paul F. Gaynor

Gaynor is Brigadier General Paul F. Gaynor, the long time head of the Security Research Staff. Gaynor was something of an expert in the CIA in terms of sexual blackmail, maintaining the so-called "fag files" (noted in part one). Gaynor was also very close to James McCord and was in contact with him throughout the Watergate scandal (as noted before here and here). He also had extensive ties to the far right, especially the American Security Council clique (as noted before here and here).

OSI is the Office of Scientific Intelligence while OTS is the Office of Technical Services, the successor to the Technical Services Staff (TSS). The OSI, unlike the TSS, was a partner with the OS in Projects BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE and for a brief period in 1952 was even the department directing ARTICHOKE. The Office of Security and the Office of Scientific Intelligence were also beset by differences, however, and a power struggle played out here as well with the OS regaining control of ARTICHOKE and holding on to it until the Project's end. This dispute will be dealt with in greater depth in a future installment.

That future DCI Richard Helms and Frank Wisner, one of the most powerful figures in the early days of the CIA who then held the powerful post of Director of Plans, would encourage Gottlieb to set up MKULTRA as a rival to the OS-controlled Project ARTICHOKE is most interesting. Both men had been very liberal politically during their college days and allegations of Communist sympathies had dogged them ever since. What's more, Wisner had been very close to James Kronthal, the Soviet double agent the OS had uncovered and potentially had "assisted" in his "suicide (noted in part five) in 1953. Apparently Wisner had even been investigated by the Office of Security at one point during this time frame.

Frank Wisner, who ultimately committed suicide after receiving electroshock therapy and other techniques from CIA psychiatrists

This researcher wonders if the far right wing tendencies of the Office of Security personnel may have partly played into the angling of Helms and Wisner to set up Gottlieb and MKULTRA as a rival to ARTICHOKE. Certainly the possibility for abuse with such operations was quite high, and Helms and Wisner may have feared leaving the most reactionary elements of the CIA in complete control of such operations.

Another reason cited for the creation of MKULTRA and the ascension of Gottlieb and TSS in this field was the need for more "scientific control" over such research. The OS, largely comprised of former FBI and military men, had few members with any kind of scientific backgrounds. This reasoning could help explain why MKULTRA experiments seem almost totally void of originality, largely rehashing prior ARTICHOKE experiments.

This was already noted briefly in part four when considering the safe houses. The OS controlled a vast network of them across both the nation and the world and employed several of them for ARTICHOKE experiments that involved both prostitutes and unwittingly dosing subjects with experimental drugs. This of course bares more than a passing resemblance to the notorious Operation Midnight Climax that Federal Bureau of Narcotics agent George Hunter White ran for the TSS, which was initiated nearly two years after the ARTICHOKE experiments had begun. What's more, Morse Allen had known White prior to WWII and may even have recruited him for early ARTICHOKE experiments. Thus, White's purpose with Operation Midnight Climax may have been to merely recreate prior ARTICHOKE experiments.

George Hunter White

Another example of this already addressed was the work of Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, noted in part five. Pfeiffer's research eventually contributed to three separate MKULTRA Subprojects, but his early work at Bordentown Reformatory and later the Atlanta Penitentiary was begun under the auspices of Project ARTICHOKE before seemingly being transferred, or passed on, to MKULTRA, where Pfeiffer continued in a similar vein.

There is a possibility that will be explored over the remaining installments in this series that at least part of MKULTRA's purpose was merely to confirm or deny the conclusions reached by ARTICHOKE experiments. Certainly it seems that many of MKULTRA's experiments had their origins in research already conducted by ARTICHOKE. But moving along.

The MKULTRA Red Herring

The more one studies ARTICHOKE and MKULTRA, the more one is left with the impression that the MKULTRA revelations were largely designed by the CIA to draw attention away from Project ARTICHOKE. Certainly there has been a nearly five-decade long campaign of disinformation on the part of the Agency to depict ARTICHOKE as a mere predecessor to MKULTRA that was eventually rolled wholly into it. Over the past decade, evidence of such a plot has begun to emerge in the form of what was informally called "Operation Dormouse." Concerning "Dormouse," Jeffrey Kaye and H.P. Albarelli provided the following details on Truthout in 2010:

"Contemporary torture's earliest, deepest and most influential roots are found in the CIA's Artichoke Project. Indeed, it is Project Artichoke that encapsulates the CIA's real traveling road show of horrors and atrocities, not MK/ULTRA which, although responsible for its own acts of mindless cruelty, pales in comparison. 

"That MK/ULTRA received, and continues to receive, the lion's share of the media's attention and public outrage over CIA mind control programs was a deliberately planned outcome on the part of the Agency. This outcome was the central objective of a never before revealed covert operation launched in 1975 and informally code-named Dormouse.

"Dormouse, operated out of the CIA's Security Research branch, had its genesis in the 1975 Rockefeller Commission report and in the subsequent Congressional hearings into CIA illegal activities chaired by Senators Frank Church and Teddy Kennedy. Following the initial revelation of Frank Olson's alleged "suicide" by the Rockefeller Commission, a number of high-level meetings occurred between President Gerald Ford's White House and CIA General Counsel Lawrence Houston.

"Houston, who had served the Agency as its doyen general counsel for over 25 years, secretly huddled on at least two occasions in June 1975 with Ford's chief of staff, Donald Rumsfeld, and his chief assistant, Richard Cheney. Houston impressed upon both men that any prolonged and intense media scrutiny of Project Artichoke would lead to opening a Pandora's box of legal, institutional, international and public relations problems that could destroy the CIA.

"Houston explained that the Agency's MK/ULTRA program was far less problematic for the CIA because it had been a research-based program that initiated 153 contracts to colleges, universities and research institutions nationwide. These contractors, all stalwart and prestigious institutions like Harvard, Columbia, and Tulane Universities, could serve as viable buffers to any harsh outside attacks.

"Houston stressed that deliberate exposure of the MK/ULTRA program by essentially offering it to the press would serve to placate the brewing feeding frenzy over so-called mind control projects, and would divert any investigative attempts into the multi-faceted Artichoke Project.  

"Houston additionally explained to Rumsfeld and Cheney that, along with the release of MK/ULTRA details to the media, the names of a few former CIA employees, such as Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, would also be released to the press. Incredibly, when the subject of possible federal prosecutions of CIA officials for capital crimes and felonies, such as murder and drug trafficking, came up in their discussion, Houston informed Rumsfeld and Cheney that there was little cause for concern...

"Without doubt, as the extant record clearly reveals, the CIA's Dormouse Operation, as expressed by Houston, was remarkably effective. Information released on the Agency's MK/ULTRA program more than sated the media's curiosity for mind control details, and even a few random Artichoke Program citations in a couple released documents failed to draw any concerted examination by anyone in the press..."

Richard Cheney, then a rising star in the American deep state

Thus, it would seem that the Security Research Staff's rivalry with MKLULTRA and Gottlieb even extended into the cover-up, with the SRS effectively laying responsibility for virtually everything relating to behavioral modification experiments at the feet of Gottlieb and MKLULTRA. While Gottlieb and MKLUTRA were certainly responsible for their fair share of barbarism, there are ample indications that Gottlieb and company were choir boys compared to their counterparts in ARTICHOKE. There may have been a hint of anti-Semitism behind the Jewish Gottlieb being offered up as a sacrificial lamb for the CIA's behavioral modification experiments as well. As was noted in part one, longtime SRS head General Paul Gaynor had many racist associates and even resorted to anti-Semitism during the CIA's investigation of journalist Jack Anderson, whom he accused of being a part of the "liberal-Zionist-Mafia" cabal (noted in part four).

BLUEBIRD and Pelican

With those disclaimers out of the way, let us now begin our examination of BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE in earnest. The origins of BLUEBIRD, the predecessor to ARTICHOKE, are some what murky, but seem to date to around 1949. This was of course not the first time the United States security services had officially investigated behavior modification and enhanced interrogation methods, however. The OSS had famously experimented with "truth serums," including cannabis, with the assistance of the above-mentioned George Hunter White during the WWII years. Elsewhere, the Army employed a special interrogation unit known as the "Rough Boys," part of its Counterintelligence Corps, in the post-WWII years up until at least the early 1950s. The Rough Boys employed both drugs and electroshock, two latter staples of the so-called "Artichoke Treatment."

The Navy had begun to investigate potential truth serums in 1947 as part of Project CHATTER.

"... Described as an 'offensive' program, CHATTER was supposed to devise means of obtaining information from people independent of their volition but without physical duress. Toward this end Dr. Charles Savage conducted experiments with mescaline (a semi-synthetic extract of the peyote cactus that produces hallucinations similar to those caused by LSD) at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. But these studies, which involved animals as well as human subjects, did not yield an effective truth serum, and CHATTER was terminated in 1953.

"The navy became interested in mescaline as an interrogation agent when American investigators learned of mind control experiments carried out by Nazi doctors at the Dachau concentration camp during World War II. After administering the hallucinogen to thirty prisoners, the Nazis concluded that it was 'impossible to impose one's will on another person as in hypnosis even when the strongest dose of mescaline had been given.' But the drug still afforded certain advantages to SS interrogators, who were consistently able to draw 'even the most intimate secrets from the [subjects] when questions were cleverly put.'.."

(Acid Dreams, Martin A. Lee & Bruce Shalin, pgs. 5-6) 

possibly Dr. Charles Savage, one of the key early researchers in CHATTER

As we shall see, CHATTER was not the only behavior modification project to comb Nazi archives for techniques in such fields. As such CHATTER in some ways laid the foundation for was to become BLUEBIRD.

"... Project Bluebird, which operated for about two years, 1949 through the summer of 1951, and primarily concentrated its efforts on former American POWs returned from the Korean War. These servicemen were placed as patients in several Army hospitals, including Valley Forge Hospital in Pennsylvania and the Walter Reed facility in Washington D.C. There, former POWs were subjected to various 'behavioral modification' programs involving the use of experimental drugs, hypnosis, and special interrogation methods, all for what the CIA deemed 'offensive objectives.' Joining the CIA in Project Bluebird as formal partners were the Army, Navy and Air Force. The FBI declined to participate in Bluebird. 

"Reads one April 1951 Bluebird Project report:

" 'The Navy's research efforts in regards to Bluebird objectives had actually begun at Bethesda Naval Hospital. There, according to the Navy's Bluebird designees, J.H. Alberti and Lt. Cmdr. Hardenburg, extensive experiments had been conducted using both drugs and medical aids (polygraph machines, surgical means, hypnotism). Besides Bethesda hospital, the Office of Naval Research conducted a project in partnership with the University of Indiana, which in essence [was] a search for valid indications of deception other than the mechanical indicators now being used.' "

(A Secret Order, H.p. Albarelli, Jr., pgs. 168-169)

As noted above, CHATTER was begun in 1947 but there may have been an even more mysterious Naval operation closely connected to BLUEBIRD that was begun in the late 1940s as well.

"... an intense, covert program operated by the CIA in tandem with Naval Intelligence, aimed at 'identifying and testing the effectiveness of suspected Soviet Russians, or satellite countries, activity in the areas of physical, psychological, mechanical and medical interrogation techniques.' Initially code-named Pelican, and then Operation Boomer, and finally Project Bluebird..."

(A Terrible Mistake, H.P. Albarelli, Jr., pg. 202)

The reference above to Project Pelican is most curious. This researcher has only been able to find one other reference to it and that has to do with the incredible comments made by Lieutenant Commander Thomas Narut, a Navy psychologist, in the wake of a NATO conference in Oslo during 1975. Afterwards Narut got into a conversation with a journalist from the Sunday Times and made some shocking revelations about an assassination program being run by the Navy.

"When pressed by Watson to explain the details of this kind of conditioning, Narut said that he had worked with 'combat readiness units' which included men being programmed for commando-type operations and for undercover placement at U.S. embassies. These, Narut said, were 'hit men and assassins' (Narut's words) made ready to kill in selected countries should the need arise...

"The conditioning of Narut's assassins was accomplished by audio-visual desensitization, a standard behavior modification process. These men were 'desensitized' to mayhem by being shown films of people being killed or injured in a number of different ways. At first the films would show only mild forms of bloodshed. As the men became acclimated to the scenes of carnage, they would see progressively more violent scenes. The assassin candidates, Narut explained, would eventually be able to dissociate any feelings they might have from even the goriest scenes they viewed."

(Operation Mind Control, Walter Bowart, pg. 163)

a later account of Narut's remarks

Apparently the treatments these would be assassins were given was very Clockwork Orange-like. They were even strapped into chairs, their heads clamped so that they could not look away from the screen and a device preventing them from closing their eyes was even employed. Narut alleged that the techniques he had described were conducted at the Naval Neuropsychiatric Laboratory Center in San Diego, California.

After the Sunday Times article was published, several American journalist attempted to interview Narut. This proved easier said than done as the Navy rapidly closed ranks. The Navy of course denied everything Narut had said, but some interesting comments were made off the record by an alleged military source.

"... Eventually, one persistent journalist was informed off the record that the Navy 'kept elite units of trained assassins at secret locations across the world,' and that the overall designation for some of the units was Project Pelican. 'The project is a matter of national security,' said one Navy official in the Pentagon...."

(A Terrible Mistake, H.P. Albarelli, Jr., pgs. 346-347) 

Was Project Pelican the designation for the Navy's contributions to BLUEBIRD and later ARTICHOKE? Certainly there are indications that developing assassins was an objective of BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE, as we shall see. But moving along for now.

BLUEBIRD, ONI and the Nazis

One of the most curious aspects of BLUEBIRD that is much remarked upon by researchers is the both date in which the program was officially launched and the individual who green lighted it. Consider:.

"Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoeter was the first Director of the CIA; he was also later to become a member of NICAP, that organization of professional scientists, military men, engineers and civilians created to uncover the truth about UFOs. Hillenkoeter remained convinced about the reality of the phenomenon all his life. But on April 20, 1950 --ironically enough, Hitler's birthday --he approved the creation of a special project to discover a means to combat the Russian mind weapons, whatever they were. This project was called BLUEBIRD."

(Sinister Forces Book One, Peter Levenda, pg. 187) 

the mysterious Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoeter

Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoeter, himself a long time member of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), is one of the most curious and overlooked CIA directors. As I'll already indicated in the previous section and in part four of this series, there appears to have been rather close collaboration between the Office of Security and ONI. The Navy was already active in behavior modification research at the time the CIA was founded, so Hillenkoeter likely would have brought a passing familiarity with such projects within him to the CIA. What's more, the eventual head of BLUEBIRD and the long time head of ARTICHOKE, Morse Allen, had served in the ONI during WWII. Allen had spent much of WWII in the Pacific Theater while Hillenkoeter was the chief of intelligence for the staff of Admiral Chester Nimitz's Pacific fleet. Thus, there is certainly a possibility that Hillenkoeter was aware of Allen even before both men had joined the CIA.

Hillenkoeter's activities with NICAP are also interesting for our purposes here as there is compelling evidence that ARTICHOKE had an interest in UFOs, as shall be addressed in a future installment. For now, it is interesting to note that there was quite a bit of overlap between the membership of NICAP and the American Security Council (ASC), a vast private intelligence network as well the leading lobby group for the military industrial complex throughout the Cold War era. As was noted in part one, long time Security Research Staff (SRS, the section of the OS that oversaw BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE) head Brigadier General Paul Gaynor had close ties to the ASC while in part four it was revealed that the ASC likely played a key role in the Watergate scandal along with the OS and ONI. Certainly then the presence of so many ASC men, including Council founder John Fischer, in NICAP along with Hillenkoeter is rather curious, especially in light of ties both Hillenkoeter and the ASC had to BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE. But moving along.

The timing of BLUEBIRD's official launch is most curious as well. Certainly the date of Hitler's birthday (April 20, 1950 would have been Der Fuhrer's sixty-first) is most ominous, especially in light of the fact that Nazi records had become studied prior to the official launch of BLUEBIRD for techniques that could be put to use in the fledgling project.

"... In 1949, Frank Wisner, Office of Policy Coordination assistant director, created a scientific steering committee to conduct a complete inventory of all chemical and biological weapons then in existence, including those employed by the Nazis and Japanese during World War II. Based on that inventory, Wisner instructed the committee to come up with 'ideas in the areas of chemical, biological and radiological warfare' and 'if concept is deemed workable the Committee will recommend competent scientists and engineers to supply detailed information to round out any such plans. Wisner said the committee would work closely with selected personnel from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Camp Detrick, military intelligence, and the CIA's Division A."

(A Terrible Mistake, H.P. Albarelli, Jr., pg. 209)

Presumably the Committee mentioned above is what eventually became the "Artichoke Committee." Some of the military personnel involved in the Committee had ties to the Nazis as well.

"A combined CIA-military intelligence project code-named 'Bluebird' and later renamed 'Artichoke' was set up... Significantly, the key military intelligence agency involved with this project --the Joint Intelligence Committee --had been involved in Paperclip from the beginning. The JIC members included U.S. Army Director of Intelligence Alexander Bolling and Brigadier General John Alexander Samford, the chief of Air Force intelligence who later headed the National Security Agency."

(Secret Agenda, Linda Hunt, pg. 164)

General Alexander Bolling, a participant in both Paperclip and BLUEBIRD/ARTICHOKE

Reportedly some of the Paperclip scientists such Freidrick Wilhelm Hoffmann were used as part of the initial BLUEBIRD experiments and may even have contributed to ARTICHOKE for years afterwards.

And this point this researcher would like to take a moment and stress the joint nature of BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE. While the CIA is largely perceived as being wholly responsible for these projects, this is HARDLY accurate, as I hope some of the previous sections have indicated. The fact of the matter is that the US Military, especially the Army and Navy, were not only willing participants but had even embarked upon research of this nature that pre-dated the CIA's involvement. BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE were very much collaborations between the CIA and the Pentagon, with the latter developing its own particular uses for the research conducted as part of BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE.

BLUEBIRD and Twilight Language

Another curious aspect of BLUEBIRD is the project's name. Conventional accounts hold that there was nothing especially significant about BLUEBIRD's name. H.P. Albarelli, for instance, notes: "The code named BLUEBIRD had resulted from a comment made at a 1950 planning committee meeting of the Office of Special Operations (OSO) --that the objective of improved interrogation techniques was to get the subject 'to sing like a bluebird.'.. " (A Terrible Mistake, pg. 208).

The great Peter Levenda, examining BLUEBIRD through the prism of "twilight language," suggested a far more disturbing inspiration for BLUEBIRD's name.

"There is a phrase which is perhaps not used so much these days as it was in the tender years of the twentieth century: 'the blue bird of happiness.' What many people do not realize --and did not realize even then --was that this term had its origins in a play and a novel written by the Belgian Nobel Prize-winning author and dramatist, Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949). Maeterlinck was surrounded by the Symbolist movement (forerunners of the Surrealists) in fin-de-siecle France, and was a friend of Sar Peladan, a noted Rosicrucian of the day. Indeed, Maeterlinck was something of a mystic himself and a firm believer in occult phenomena, as his other writings such as The Other World (1942) amply demonstrate. He was also a keen observer of nature and natural phenomena, in The Life of the Bee (1901), in which the concept of the 'meme' is introduced, to a wider audience (after its creation by a relatively-unknown German psychologist --Richard Sauder --years before, the same psychologist who created the 'engram,' made famous by L. Ron Hubbard). His writings were very popular in Europe, being a mixture of the profound with the child-like, such as his most famous work The Blue Bird 1909). In this play, first performed in the Russian language in Moscow on September 30, 1908 and later in English in London and New York, two children set off on a search for the Blue Bird of Happiness. This search leads them on many adventures --a kind of initiatic quest for the Grail --and the author was startled to realize that many of the motifs of Maeterlinck's play are repeated in the CIA's search for a Manchurian Candidate, a search that began with Project BLUEBIRD. It is this strange set of correspondence that leads the author to the opinion that Sheffield Edwards's agenda itself was far more profound than simply a search for a truth serum or a psychological defense against it, or that at least Edwards understood the implications of what he had set out to do in BLUEBIRD...

"The story, which begins on Christmas Eve, involves two children --Tyltyl and his younger sister Mytyl --who set out on a quest to find the Blue Bird of Happiness. Impoverished children of a woodcutter, who lives across from a great house with very rich children, they understand that they are too poor to receive Christmas presents that year. They go to sleep with the lamp out. Then, in the middle of the night, a light shines through their house from outside, the lamp lights itself, and the children awake. (It is like a scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, similar in detail to descriptions of UFO landings.) There is a knock at the door, and an old woman --who later introduces herself as the Fairy Berylune --asks them if they have 'the grass that sings, or the bird that is blue.' It appears that Berylune has a sick daughter who will not get well unless the Blue Bird of Happiness is found. The children, eager to help, then set off on a quest for the mysterious Bird... and to visit their dead grandparents, with the Fairy's help. In order to visit the dead, however, they have to pass through the Land of Memory which is on the way to the Blue Bird."

(Sinister Forces Book I, Peter Levenda, pgs. 187-188) 

Maurice Maeterlinck

While BLUEBIRD would certainly prove to be quite a journey into the "Land of Memory," Levenda's premise is very dubious. Still, there is compelling evidence that the conservative men of the Office of Security would develop quite an interest in mysticism during their work on BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE, as shall be addressed in a future installment.

And of course, there are also the persistent allegations that certain articles of pop culture have been used as kinds of "triggers" in the Pentagon/CIA behavior modification experiments. Common examples of this are The Wizard of Oz, Catcher in the Rye (the author of which, J.D. Salinger, had served in the Army Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) during WWII; CIC was also deeply involved in Operation Paperclip and had their own "enhanced interrogation" unit in addition to being participants in BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE), and The Turner Diaries. But again, there is no real credible evidence behind these allegations.

Agendas and Early Experiments

Before wrapping up, a few more points shall be made about the early days of BLUEBIRD. Let us begin with the Project's founding agendas.

"... Simply put, the initial objectives of BLUEBIRD were to devise the most effective means possible for obtaining specific information from unwilling subjects. The project focused almost exclusively on situations deemed 'Special Interrogations' or 'SI' in which the quick and complete 'inducing of full disclosure' was paramount.

"At BLUEBIRD's inception, CIA officials made it clear that no method of obtaining information was taboo from consideration. Documents from the project's earliest meetings reveal a laundry list of methods, including the use of 'ego-depressant' drugs like heroin and morphine; polygraph; electro-shock therapy; the use of 'mechanical aids'; lobotomies; hypnotism; fatigue; isolation; sensory deprivation; and torture."

(A Terrible Mistake, H.P. Albarelli, Jr., pg. 208)

A few paragraphs down Albarelli quotes at length a proposal from the BLUEBIRD committee that indicates an even more sinister agenda:

"After the research programs have been developed, it is recommended that BLUEBIRD conduct experiments and develop techniques to determine the possibilities and practicability of positive use of SI on willing and unwilling subjects for operational purposes. Positive use of SI would be for the purpose of operational control of individuals to perform specific tasks under post hypnotic suggestion and, in addition, would cover research in training fields and defensive conditioning against the application of SI by unfriendly elements. This field, if it is found that the application of SI is possible and practicable, offers unlimited opportunities to operating offices."

(A Terrible Mistake, H.P. Albarelli, Jr., pgs. 208-209)

After roughly a year of research, official BLUEBIRD teams became active just a few months after Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoeter had green lighted the project. Many of these headed overseas to test suspected double agents.

"Three months after the Director approved BLUEBIRD, the first team traveled to Japan to try out behavioral techniques on human subjects --probably suspected double agents. The three men arrived in Tokyo in July 1950, about a month after the start of the Korean War. No one needed to impress upon them the importance of their mission. The Security Office ordered them to conceal their true purpose from even the U.S. military authorities with whom they worked in Japan, using the cover that they would be performing 'intensive polygraph' work. In stifling, debilitating heat and humidity, they tried out combinations of the depressant sodium amytal with the stimulant benzedrine on each of four subjects, the last two of whom also received a second stimulant, picrotoxin. They also tried to induce amnesia. The team considered the tests successful, but the CIA documents available on the trip give only the sketchiest outline of what happened. Then around October 1950, the BLUEBIRD team used 'advanced' techniques on 25 subjects, apparently North Korean prisoners of war."

(The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate", John Marks, pg. 25)

Many of these tests were likely conducted at the Naval base in Atsugi. ARTICHOKE personnel visited the Atsugi location throughout the 1950s to conduct experiments there, though not anywhere to the extent some sources claim.

There were also tests conducted in Europe, especially Germany, but apparently the most common test subjects in the early days were U.S. military personnel. This was already noted briefly a few sections up, but here are a few more details concerning early BLUEBIRD experiments on GIs:

"Bluebird... experiments conducted at Edgewood or the Army intelligence base at Fort Holabird, Maryland. The participation of the CIA and the JIC in the project was kept hidden using a University of Maryland contract with Edgewood as a cover. At least a thousand soldiers... were given up to twenty doses of LSD to test the drug as a possible interrogation weapon --even though Edgewood scientists already knew it could cause serious physical reactions in humans...

"Nonetheless, test subjects at Edgewood or Fort Holabird were given LSD and other drugs, then subjected to hostile questioning by intelligence officers to deliberately create an extreme state of fear and anxiety. One soldier fought his way out of a locked box in stark terror during a Fort Holabird experiment. Several soldiers were seriously harmed by the tests. One man suffered a grand mal seisure; another went into an acute state of paranoia and had to be hospitalized for a week. Three others developed a history of epileptic seizures after the experiments..."

(Secret Agenda, Linda Hunt, pgs. 166-167)

And this was the kind of "vision" that gripped BLUEBIRD in its inception. And things were only going to become more brutal and bizarre as time went on. While Sidney Gottlieb is typically held up as the dark alchemist who oversaw these workings, in the next installment we shall meet the true black magician that inspired much of the mysticism in the early behavioral modification experiments. Stay tuned.

Wars and Rumors of Wars -Updated

In antiquity, the month of July was known as a rather volatile time, especially at the onset of the so-called "Dog Days" of Summer. These were said to occur with the helical rising of the Dog Star Sirius and frequently resulted in fiery weather and even fiery tempers.

"The heliacal rising of Sirius was also important to ancient peoples. Here is a dramatic description by the ancient Greek poet Aratus of Soli of the rising of Sirius (often known as the Dog Star as it is in the constellation Canis, or "Dog"):

The tip of his [the Dog's] terrible jaw is marked by a star that keenest of all blazes with a searing flame and him men call Sirius. When he rises with the Sun [his heliacal rising], no longer do the trees deceive him by the feeble freshness and their leaves. For easily with his keen glance he pierces their ranks, and to some he gives strength but of others he blights the bark utterly.

"We see that this dramatic description of the rising of the star indicates an event which was certainly noticed by ancient peoples. Throughout Latin literature there are many references to 'the Dog Days' which followed the heliacal rising of Sirius in the summer. These hot, parched days were thought by that time to derive some of their ferocity and dryness from the 'searing' of Sirius..."

(The Sirius Mysteries, Robert Temple, pg. 86)

Sirius

The helical rising of Sirius was by all accounts a major event in the ancient world, yet, as I've noted before, there is little certainty concerning the actual date on which it began. It is most often alleged to have been July 23, though some accounts place it on the twentieth. In David Ovason's classic The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capital, he cites July 3 as the beginning of the Dog Days.

Either way, we are almost upon the Dog Days if not already engulfed in their fury if the current state of the world is any indication. On July 14, 2016, a terror attack was carried out in Nice, France, involving a large truck that left some 84 people dead. As can be expected, the Internet is already awash with claims of "false flag," but this is perhaps to hasty. The technocrats in Brussels are already uneasy after Brexit and French officials already fear that another large scale terror attack could have serious (har har) repercussions for one of the two nations (along with Germany) chiefly responsible for the EU. Consider the following:

"Fielding questions behind closed doors from the Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry into the Paris attacks in November 2015, the transcript of which has today been released, Patrick Calvar, the head of the Directorate General of Internal Security (RPS) explained that it was not just an escalation of the terrorists’ capabilities he feared, but also the subsequent response from what he termed the 'far right'... 

" 'I think we will win against terrorism; I am, however, more concerned about the radicalisation of society and the basic movement that drives it. That’s what worries me when I talk with my European colleagues: we will have, at one time or another, to provide resources to deal with other extremist groups because confrontation is inevitable.'..

" 'All of Europe is in danger of rising extremism so we are, domestically, trying to put in place the resources to watch far right groups who are waiting for confrontation,' he told Parliamentarians...

" 'If another attack or two occur, it will happen. It is therefore down to us to anticipate and confound all those groups who would, at some point, spark clashes between communities.' " 

Patrick Calvar

It may not even come to an armed revolt. Marine Le Pen was already surging in French polls prior to the nation's latest large scale terror attack and no doubt she is even better positioned after Thursday's events. And of course, there are the ever growing calls for "Frexit" as well, which could effectively be the final nail in the coffin of the EU.

Marine Le Pen

This is most assuredly not what the technocrats in Brussels or the American Eastern Establishment want. On the other hand, the old guard aristocracy centered around the Le Cercle network, while once being a crucial alley of the United Europe movement, have grown increasingly Eurosceptic since the chairmanships of Lord Norman Lamont and Lord Lothian. While my inclination is that the recent attack was likely collateral damage from the disastrous US-NATO policy toward the Islamic world since 9/11, the objectives of the latter group are only going to be furthered with this latest incident.

And then there is the curious coup attempt in Turkey that appears to have been stillborn. Turkey's President, Tayyip Erdogan, was quick to blame a Pennsylvania-based cleric that was formerly close to his regime. This cleric, Fethullah Gulen, is in turn suspected to have a longstanding relationship with the CIA.

Fethullah Gulen

But this is Turkey we are talking about after all and there is a reason why this nation originated the deep state. Within said nation, there is a growing suspicion that Erdogan himself has sponsored the coup. Certainly Turkey and its military have a long history with coups and this latest effort seems shockingly inept, especially if it had backing from the CIA. Erdogan, by contrast, will appear as a national hero with the way cleared for him to further his authoritarian rule. He'll no doubt be greatly helped in this endeavor by being able to ascertain the Gulen loyalists and other adversaries in the military and brutally purge them.

Tayyip Erdogan

But why would Erdogan single out a CIA-linked cleric as the coup plotter? In recent weeks Erdogan has been warming up to Putin and deescalating Turkey's recent tensions with Russia in the process. Is this the beginning of a closer relationship with Putin, one in which Turkey will bow out of NATO efforts to counter Russia?

Certainly raising speculation that the CIA was a partner in the coup will only make the pivot toward Russia an easier sell t the populace if that is in fact Erdogan's agenda. Only time will tell as events surrounding this coup are still murky at the very best and the parapolitics will likely only become apparent after some time.

But regardless, this is yet another sign that 2016 is different, a notion that gains more currency every day.

Update 7/16/16:

Well, that didn't take long. Erdogan has already demanded the extradition of alleged coup plotters and CIA asset (noted above) Fethullah Gulen from the United States while massive purges of both the military and other government branches (especially the judiciary) are well under way. At present some 265 people are officially reported dead as part of the failed coup.

Even more provocative, however, are the allegations made by by Turkish Labor Minister Suleyman Soylu that the United States itself was behind the coup. US officials, meanwhile, appeared to have been totally caught off guard by the coup. There is certainly a possibility of this as there is speculation that Turkey may currently be holding several US nuclear warheads hostage at their Incirlik Airbase.

Curiously, the are allegations that the Clintons have ties to Fethullah Gulen, the cleric Erdogan blamed the coup on. This is highly speculative, however and it is unknown if this has any bearing of these events currently unfolding.

Suleyman Soylu

A Sniper in Dallas

Over the last few days the headlines read like something out of a synchro-mystical nightmare. The week began with two more questionable shootings of African-American men (Alton Sterling and Philando Castile) by US police officers under highly dubious circumstances. And then there was Thursday night's main event in which a US Army veteran rained sniper fire down on Dallas police, allegedly as a result of a desire to kill police officers and "white people."

Obviously, there are more than a few parallels to the Kennedy assassination, and in fact the shooting took place mere blocks from Dealey Plaza. Thus, a lot of the twilight language associated with the Kennedy assassination is potentially applicable here. What's more, the shooting took place on 7/7, the date of Britain's most notorious alleged Islamic terror attack. As Loren Coleman noted on his blog, there are also curious overlaps between the life and death of the nation's most recent sniper and Mark Essex, a former African-American Navy man who murdered several police officers in New Orleans with a high powered rifle in 1972.

There is also a deep political implication behind this event as well. The shooting unfolded in the midst of a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest. The BLM movement has received much of its financial support from George Soros's Open Society Foundations (OSF). OSF and other Soros foundations have been linked for nearly fifteen years now to a host of "bloodless" "color revolutions", mostly in Eastern Europe:

"... the so-called Orange Revolution which had taken place in Kiev, in the Ukraine, in the late fall and early winter 2004. The Orange Revolution, as informed observers knew very well, had been the result of a cynical destabilization of Ukraine by US and British intelligence --especially by the National Endowment for Democracy, the various Soros foundations, Gene Sharp's Albert Einstein Institute, and other entities that we may refer to for the sake of brevity and clarity as the privatized or quasi-government left wing of the US intelligence community or left CIA in the post-1982 era of President Reagan's Executive Order 12333.

 "The 2004 Orange Revolution was not a unique event, but had been preceded by similar exercises in destabilization and subversion, especially in the former Warsaw Pact and Soviet spaces. These have included the successful so-called Bulldozer Revolution in Belgrade, Serbia in 2000 and the Roses revolution in Tiflis, Georgia in 2003. There had been an attempt at a Cedars Revolution in Lebanon in 2006, but it had been blocked by the organized mass mobilization capacity of Hezbollah. Another attempted coup in Belarus in 2001 had also been defeated by that nation's government."

(Obama: The Postmodern Coup, Webster Griffin Tarpley, pg. 13) 

George Soros, who has also provided a lot of the funding for the modern cannabis and entheogen movements

The coups have not always been bloodless, however. The Open Society Foundations' recent activities in the Ukraine have contributed to the civil war that has destabilized the former Soviet Bloc nation since 2014.

Thus, the appearance of a Soros' funded "mass movement" at an event of this magnitude should always give one pause. Even more curious is the time spent by the shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, in the US Army. Johnson had apparently been considering a career in the Army prior to graduating from high school. Raw Story reports:

"Johnson graduated in 2009 from John Horn High School in Mesquite, where he participated in JROTC, the high school officer training program, according to the school district. Family photographs on Facebook show him posing in a red mortarboard. 

"He joined the Army Reserve the same year he completed high school, serving with the 420th engineering brigade. His jobs included a stint at Jimmy John's in Richardson. Chris Jennings, who owns the sandwich shop, said in an email that Johnson went to work there in 2011 and 'departed of his own accord in 2012.' 

"The following year, he was deployed to Afghanistan for 12 months. Several soldiers who served with him told The Dallas Morning News that they had been ordered not to discuss him.

"One family friend said Johnson had changed when he returned from overseas.... 

"At some point, Johnson appears to have worked at General Dynamics, a defense company with offices in Richardson. A woman who answered the phone there Friday said he had been an employee. People at the business said employees had been told not to talk to the media. A spokeswoman for the parent company would not confirm or deny his employment.

"Pentagon records do not reveal the reason for Johnson's Army discharge in April 2015. But a military lawyer who represented him said Johnson had been accused of sexually harassing a female soldier and had to leave the service. Bradford Glendening, a military attorney who practices near Fort Hood, said that the Army sent Johnson home from Afghanistan, which was unusual. Discipline for sexual harassment is typically counseling, he said...

"The woman asked that Johnson receive 'mental help' and asked for a protective order for herself and her family, Glendening said, adding that he wasn't sure which type of discharge Johnson ultimately received.

"Johnson's passionate interest in the black power movement began to manifest itself on his Facebook page this year. On April 30, he changed his profile picture to a shot of him with Professor Griff, a member of the hip-hop group Public Enemy known for calling out police brutality."

Micah Xavier Johnson circa 2009

Here's some more from MSNBC about the incident that got Johnson drummed out of the Army:

"For six years starting in 2009, Johnson served in the Army Reserve as a private first class with a specialty in carpentry and masonry, the military said.

"In May 2014, six months into his Afghanistan tour, he was accused of sexual harassment by a female soldier. The Army sent him stateside, recommending an 'other than honorable discharge,' said Bradford Glendening, the military lawyer who represented him. 

"That recommendation was 'highly unusual,' Bradford said, since counseling is usually ordered before more drastic steps are taken...

"According to a court filing Glendening read over the phone Friday, the victim said she wanted Johnson to 'receive mental help,' while also seeking a protective order to keep him away from her and her family, wherever they went. Johnson was ordered to avoid all contact with her.

"Glendening said Johnson was set to be removed from the Army in September 2014 because of the incident, but instead got an honorable discharge months later — for reasons he can't understand.

" 'Someone really screwed up,' he said. "But to my client's benefit.' "

So, to recap: Johnson appears to have been a fairly normal individual with a longstanding dream of being in the Army. He enlists and is in the Reserve for six years. In 2013, he is sent to Afghanistan. He has some type of breakdown there that appears to involve a female soldier. The Army apparently has great concern about his conduct and mental stability, yet they end of granting him an honorable discharge and seemingly take no real legal actions against him.

A little over a year after he has been honorably discharged, he develops an interest in militant black power groups. And then, several months later, he launches an attack on Dallas police that has been described as "well-planned" and "well thought out." He is then killed by Dallas police via a robot/drone, leaving no opportunity to question him and certainly not for a trial (to say nothing of creating a disturbing precedent). And of course, there were the inevitable initial reports that Johnson was not acting alone, since changed to the familiar "lone wolf" narrative.

Bizarrely, another African-American Army veteran was accused of opening fire on passing cars on a highway in Tennessee hours before the Dallas incident. He also alleged that he had been triggered by recent police killings of people of color.

Lakeem Keon Scott, the Tennessee shooter

These are strange times indeed. It seems likely that these events have some ulterior purpose, but it is to early discern. Many will pick up on the Open Society Foundations/Soros link to the BLM movement and reduce to this to a domestic operation by the "liberal CIA" faction. But this researcher believes the possibility exists that BLM and their backers are being set up by some other force, one that sees the mounting opposition to the police state as a direct threat to the national security apparatus.

But only time will tell. Until then, stay tuned and be safe in these interesting times.

Top 13 of 15

And so the time has arrived for another year end review of the top 13 albums released, this time for that Foal Year of Our Lords 2015. This once-a-year series was inspired by the persistent claims that rock and pop culture on the whole are dead and has now run for three years. Ideally this installment would have been out several weeks earlier but the transition between 2015 and 2016 has been a rough one for music: 2015 ended with the death of one rock 'n roll legend while 2016 began with the death of another. I am of course referring to Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and David Bowie respectively. The Motorhead frontman and Starman were both larger than life personas that seemed indestructible. Their influence was vast and their loss is irreplaceable.

the dearly departed Lemmy (top) and David Bowie (bottom)

The departures of Lemmy and Bowie only underscore how dire things have gotten out there. There can be little doubt that mainstream music in 2015 was a truly putrid corpse emitting a rotten stench that threatens to obscure any signs of life beneath the surface. But then again, mainstream music has typically been awful with few acceptations (i.e. the late 80s/early 90s "alternative scene" and the First Psychedelic Era and Golden Age of Heavy Rock, two overlapping periods that unfolded from roughly 1966 till 1974). In the underground, as always, there are a few flickering signs of life.

This series as well as the bulk of this blog's musings on music were largely inspired by Christopher Knowles' groundbreaking The Secret History of Rock N' Roll and his numerous writings on the Secret Sun blog. Knowles properly linked the rock n' roll spirit to the Ancient Mysteries and the Archetypes in a effort to explain the medium's power. Knowles, however, takes a much dimer view of the current music scene than I.

As noted above, it is hard to dispute that rock n' roll is in dire straits and that the socio-economic order that fueled the heyday of rock n' roll is gone. But uncertainty and chaos have often produced choice works of art and our current era is certainly overflowing with either. For this reason it was of little surprise to your author that several doom metal-centric bands generated especially inspired outings this year while the retro heavy rock movement, finding inspiration in the Golden Age of Rock 'N Roll, continues to go strong. It probably goes without saying, but the genre typically described as "stoner rock" (which can include doom, sludge and post-metal, desert rock, fuzz rock, heavy psych, occult rock and so on) continues to be at the forefront of rock n' roll relevancy.

Indeed, stoner rock arguably had one of its best years in terms of media exposure due to the tragedy in Paris. The Eagles of Death Metal, with their extensive ties to the Palm Desert scene, are very much in the stoner rock family and were the band performing in the Bataclan during one of the most shocking moments of the Paris terror attacks. That stoner rock, steeped in the occult, conspiracy theories and general high weirdness, has gradually found its way into the mainstream consciousness despite the contempt "serious" music fans have long had for it is hardly surprising. Perhaps no other genre today understands the archetypal appeal of classic rock better while offering up a fresh take on the first principals of the medium. I've written extensively on these themes before here.

But enough introductory remarks. Let us get on with the rankings:

13

Berlin --Kadavar

Kadavar are deeply steeped in retro heavy rock that could make the casual listener easily confuse their 2015 outing for something that was released forty years ago. This German outfit first caught your humble writer's ear back in 2012 with their haunting self-titled debut. That album had a dark and mysterious quality to it that the band's preceding two albums have been unable to match. That being said, 2013's Abra Kadavar (which made my top 13 in 2013) and 2015's Berlin kick out the heavy '70s jams as well as any act currently active. Songs  like "Old Man" and "Last Living Dinosaur" are so catchy and infectious that they rightfully should be played in heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations with the likes of Led Zeppelin II and Machine Head. And while the band's psychedelic side has been greatly marginalized since the debut, tracks like "Into the Night" and the cover of Nico's "Reich Der Traume" still manage to take the listener places.

12

Berkana --Golden Void

This Bay-area group also dropped their debut in 2012, and it was even more haunting that Kadavar's. Golden Void (who derive their name form a Hawkwind song) also have their fair share of retro influences (especially the great Blue Oyster Cult as well as the previously mentioned space rockers) but also bring in ample doses of 90s grunge (think Screaming Trees and more mellow Soundgarden) and European heavy psych along the lines of Colour Haze and Sungrazer. Their music maintains a mellow atmosphere even when guitarist Isiah Mitchell (also of instrumental heavy psych stalwarts Earthless) breaks out the fuzz.

The interplay between Mitchell's guitar and wife Camilia Saufley's keyboards is easily the most compelling aspect of this group. The duo weave a potent witch's brew of psychedelic bliss. The album derives its name from a rune and is unsurprisingly steeped in esoterica. Its center piece is easily the near-seven minute "Astral Plane", a track every bit as exploratory as the name implies. "Silent Season" and "Storm and Feather" are equally knee deep in atmosphere while punchier tracks such as "Dervishing" and "Burbank's Dream" display the band's ability to merge more rocking efforts with an equally hazy aesthetic.

11

Cobras and Fire --Monster Magnet

Many an astute listener had left Monster Magnet, the stoner rock pioneers, for dead around the time of 2007's 4-Way Diablo. The group took the heavy underground by storm in the 1990s with a series of groundbreaking albums that merged Lemmy-era Hawkwind with the more avant garde psychedelica of acid punk powerhouses such as the Butthole Surfers and Chrome. Beginning with 1995's Dopes to Infinity and especially 1998's commercial breakthrough Powertrip the group began to incorporate more classic heavy rock hooks and emerged at the forefront of the budding stoner rock movement by decade's end. But then things began to go south in the next decade. A series of lackluster albums and the ongoing substance abuse problems of frontman Dave Wyndorf left the band in such dire straits that New Jersey outfit did not seem long for this world after Diablo.

But then came a dramatic turnaround. 2013's Last Patrol (which finished high in that year's top 13) was easily the strongest album Monster Magnet had managed since their early 90s heyday and saw them returning to the frantic space rock and sleazy psychedelica that characterized their sound during their peak years. 2014 brought a "reimaging" of Last Patrol, aptly dubbed Milking the Stars. This album made my top 13 in 2014, though this ranking my have been mired by my inner fanboy still being so pleased with the group's return to their earlier sound. 2015's Cobras and Fires presents this reviewer with the same dilemma, but I feel its inclusion here will hold up better for the simple reason that Cobras and Fire represents a much more dramatic overhaul of an album that 2014's reimaging.

The target in this case is 2010's Mastermind, a somewhat overlooked album in MM's overture. While not nearly as strong as Patrol it was at the time a refreshing return to form that saw the group unleashing its heaviest outing to date. Short on psychedelica, but long on fuzz, Mastermind seems far better suited for a psychedelic reimaging than the already uber-trippy Patrol. And indeed, the lysergic remakes of tracks like the soaring "Gods and Punks" and the oh-so fuzzy "Hallucination Bomb" (here redubbed "Cobras and Fire") are truly reimagings. Elsewhere, "The Titan" and "Time Machine" are totally stripped of lyrics and turned into the kinds of synth driven instrumental tracks Rick Wakeman once churned out for metal bands in the 1970s to enhance the atmosphere between the punchier tracks. The same purpose is accomplished here. Throw in a stomping cover of the Temptation's psychedelic soul social commentary known as "Ball of Confusion" and you have one of the most enjoyable, if derivative, albums of 2015.

10

Scaffolds of the Sky --Mirror Queen 

Mirror Queen is another retro 70s act that manages to pay homage to rock's Golden Age without sounding derivative. Combing elements of Blue Oyster Cult, NWOBHM riffing and contemporary heavy psych, this New Jersey outfit knows how to set an atmosphere while still having enough heft to please the moshers. Scaffolds of the Sky is the group's sophomore outing after 2010's From Earth Below and shows ample growth. The albums two longest tracks, "Scaffolds of the Sky" and "Strangers in Our Time," are also the best and put the band's strengths on full display. Chugging guitars give way to hazy interludes and then back to the gallop, all on a dime and all feeling like totally natural changes. Sky wraps up with a solid cover of BOC's "Wings Wetted Down," a track preceded by the moody instrumental "Dark Ships Arrived." It makes a for an apt closing on this second album from a band that sounds as if it has yet to hit its peak. Where the group goes from now will be most intriguing, but there are still quite good at present all the same.

9

Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere --Acid King

Acid King derive their moniker from the nickname murderer Ricky Kasso, who so terrified the Christian right in the 1980s when he and two friends murdered a fourth boy while reportedly under the influence of mescaline. Kasso was arrested in an AC/DC shirt and was reportedly a fan of groups such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. This was one of the key incidents that dragged heavy metal subculture into the Satanic Hysteria of the 1980s.

Acid King the band hails from San Francisco, where they were founded in 1993 just as stoner rock was beginning to emerge as its own genre. Beyond being one of the pioneering stoner rock bands, Acid King is also fronted by guitarist and vocalist Lori S., the first woman to gain prominence in a genre that has produced increasing amounts of staller female performers over the years. AK's sound is deeply steeped in Black Sabbath as filtered through fellow North California heavy weights Sleep. Acid King slowed Sabbath's grooves down even further so as to explore the depths of Lori S' massive, sludgy riffs. Outside of Sleep, Acid King is the stoner doom band.

While possessing a sound innately druggy, Acid King did not delve much into pure psychedelica prior to the release of Middle of... this past year. The gargantuan riffs are still there threatening to blow your speakers out, but to them has been added additional sparseness as well as ample doses of psychedelica and space rock. The aptly named "Coming Down From Outer Space" perfectly captures the void of space while the title track is acid doom at its finest. The backwards guitars of the "Intro" and "Outro" instrumentals give the impression that Middle album is being beamed in from another dimension, a fitting origin for this collection of songs. Elsewhere "Silent Pictures" and "Red River" deliver the post-Sleep riffage long time fans crave. On the whole, this is a fine return to form from a band that has been away for to long.

8

Self-titled --Cigale

Cigale, despite unloading the best debut album of 2015, is a group stillborn. This is due to the sudden suicide of guitarist/backup vocalist Rutger Smeets, formerly of the great Sunglazer. Between his work with Sungrazer and Cigale Smeets had established himself as one of the most promising up-and-coming guitarist of the genre. His distinct tone and style bridged the gap between vintage 90s desert rock and the stylings of Colour Haze and other European heavy psych outfits that began to emerge during the past decade. Despite the heft underlining Smeets' guitars, they still maintained a bright, hazy tone that always threatens to throw the listener into a waking reverie.

After the sudden dissolution of Sungrazer in 2014 following their acclaimed Mirador album, Smeets bounced back with Cigale. Cigale followed in Sungrazer's merger of European heavy psych and the more trippier aspects of desert rock, but to it added elements of prog, shoegazing and even jazz. Lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Romy Endeman made for a perfect collaborator with Smeets. Her jazzy vocals brought elements of a torch song to practically every track. Highlights such as "Steeplechase" , "Grey Owl" and the folky "Eyes Wide Shut" pointed to endless possibilities for this outfit. Sadly, we will never no to what heights Cigale could have reached nor where Rutger Smeets' already impressive career would have ventured too. RIP.

7

Second Psychedelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes --Jess and the Ancient Ones

Jess and the Ancient Ones are another retro European occult act. Their self-titled debut dropped in 2013 and on the whole was a respectable if rather undisguisable outing. Their sophomore outing finds the band coming into their own, however. Jess and the Ancient Ones dial down the NWOBHM riffing of their debut while upping the prog and psychedelica and adding a pinch of jazz and even surf guitars for spectacular results. And of course there's still Jess conjuring the spirit of Grace Slick in her absolute prime.

Littered with samples from B-grade 60s and 70s films, Second Psychedelic Coming envisions a Summer of Love steeped in the occult and cults (which it kind of was). This creates a vibrant, almost (acid-laced) carnival-like atmosphere. Punchier numbers like "Wolves Inside My Head" and opener "Samhain" keep the hour plus album moving along at a brisk pace, but it is on the longer tracks that Jess and the Ancient Ones really shine. "Crossroad Lightening," with its stomping blues/gospel intro, descends into a mesmerizing Middle Eastern-vibe during its eight-plus minute run time. The 22:35 minute closer "Goodbye to Virgin Grounds Forever" is completely engrossing for the extent of its run time. It goes through various sections that encompass multiple style before concluding with almost gospel-like chants of "Death is not the end." Indeed.

6

Psychic Warfare --Clutch

Clutch has been a remarkably consistent band over the course of their twenty-plus year run. Only their debut, Transnational Speedway League, and the outtakes collection Jam Room have mired their otherwise pristine track record. But some Clutch records are better than others and 2013's Earth Rocker seems likely to join the ranks of 1995's self-titled sophomore outing, 1998's Elephant Riders and 2004's Blast Tyrant as the best of the best. Thus Psychic Warfare, coming out just a little under two years after Earth Rocker, was faced with a tough act to follow.

As can be expected, Psychic Warfare follows in the more rocking style Clutch pursued on Earth Rocker (though some of the blusier elements from Strange Cousins From the West and From Beale Street to Oblivion return). Indeed, the biggest knock on Psychic Warfare is that the batch of songs it contains aren't quite as good or as fresh as those on Rocker. Still, lesser bands would sell their souls many times over for tracks as catchy as "X-Ray Visions", "Firebirds" and the ZZ Top-ified "Quick Death in Texas." Moody and bluesy ballads "Our Lady Electric Light" and "Son of Virginia" are also quite striking.

Even more curious is the fact that this album marks Clutch's first full on concept album (allegedly) and that it revolves around a character trying to escape from mind control technology being wielded by shadowy government agencies (hence the title). As this is Clutch, all of this is handled very tongue-in-cheek and the concept seems to have been largely abandoned after the album's first half. Still, this is an interesting turn for a band that has dealt heavily with mythology, conspiracy theories and the occult before (as I've noted before here and here, among others). I may attempt a more in depth analysis of this album at a later date. For now the, the reader is advised to simply kick back and allow Clutch's unequaled boogie to take them places, some of which involving Firebirds and energy weapons.

5

Feral --Snail

Snail's journey has been a long and winding one. Founded back in 1992 in Seattle, the group released its self-titled debut in 1993 as a three piece consisting of guitarist/vocalist Mark Johnson, bassist Matt Lynch, and drummer Marty Dodson. An EP followed the next year and that would be the last anyone would hear of the group in the twentieth century. Then in 2009, a whopping sixteen years after the debut, Snail resurfaced with their sophomore outing Blood. The album featured all three original members plus a second guitarist, Eric Clausen. It caught the heavy underground by surprise with its compelling blind of doom, stoner rock and grunge.

With their first ever true following (Snail had been one of countless Seattle bands vying for national attention in the early 90s and thus flew under virtually everyone's radar) established in the wake of that album, the four piece returned in 2012 with Terminus. This album brought more 80s metalisms into the mix, but without the strong songwriting of Blood.

When Snail returned in 2015 with Feral, they were once again a three piece, Clausen having departed shortly before work on Feral began. This listener went into Feral with low expectations --while Snail's story is certainly inspiring and Blood had shown promise, the group had yet to drop something truly memorable. But after twenty-two years and three albums, Snail has truly arrived with this latest offering.

While groups like Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees may have originally been the template, Snail had already added doomier elements and on this album also incorporate more prog, and heavy psych. And despite the loss of guitarist Eric Clausen, the album sounds fuller and more complex than prior outings. This is in no small part due to the rhythm section picking up the slack. Both Dodson and Lynch contribute backing vocals while Lynch also adds keyboards and served as Feral's recording engineer.

Opener "Building a Haunted House," with its druggy build up, sets the mood."... House" is followed by the surprisingly catchy and up-tempo "Smoke the Deathless" and its amusing references to DMT. Longer tracks like "Thou Art That" and "Psilocybe" combine grunge, doom and heavy psych in moody dirges that are sure to take the listener places.

On the whole Feral is one of the most surprising releases of the year in that it finds a veteran act both expanding their sound and releasing easily their best work to date, and on which a quantum leap in songwriting quality is evident. And that art work... Highly recommended.

4

Sun Future Moon --Death Hawks

Death Hawks are a Finnish outfit who released their third outing, Sun Future Moon, in 2015. Despite the four piece's name, they offer some of the most blissful and relaxed music on this list. Combing elements of psychedelia, prog, space rock, folk, world, and desert rock, Death Hawks have a sound that is both retro and totally modern at the same time. Opener "Hey Ya Sun Ra" is the albums longest track and unfolds like a lazy summer afternoon with its rolling grooves and blissful chants. "Ripe Fruits" and "Behind Thyme" continue in the same sunny vein.

Else where tracks like "Dream Machine" and the near spoken-word "Dream Life, Waking Life" go for more of a nighttime atmosphere. In a sense these tracks are "darker", but "darker" as in exploring the wonders of deep space, be it outer or inner. The space-folk of closer "Friend of Joy", with its chants of "Send our message across the universe" is an apt conclusion to this dreamy record with one foot in the past and one in the space age.

3

Lore --Elder

Elder's prior outing, 2011's Dead Roots Stirring, caught the heavy underground by storm during that year and became one of the most celebrated releases of this decade. This listener took a while to warm up to the Boston three piece's moody sophomore outing and still does not quite agree with the endless praise heaped upon it. Lore arrived in 2015 amongst sky high expectations and seemingly delivered: Countless websites have already declared it a modern classic. While this reviewer would not go quite that far, he can not deny what the band has accomplished here. 

Consisting of five tracks that unfold over the course of an hour plus, Lore clearly is not lacking in ambition. But Elder are more than up to the task of justifying song lengths that regularly go beyond ten minutes. The band originally began as a stoner doom outfit inspired by Sleep and Electric Wizard. With Dead Roots Stirring they began incorporating elements of heavy psych into their sound. Those elements are further refined here along with ample doses of prog and space rock for good measure. 

While each track is practically a mini epic in its own right, Lore is best taken as whole. The five songs maintain a consistent atmosphere throughout that is dark without being menacing. "Mysterious" is possibly the best word for describing these five compositions. They inspire mental pictures of moon lit nights, rain-soaked early mornings and the deepest reaches of space. The Old Ones lurk within these tracks, with Elder seemingly obsessed with bringing ancient mythology to a modern light. Whether Lovecraftian or esoteric, when the album stops the listener can't help but feel they have returned from some type of curious dream, partly frightening and partly blissful in equal measures. This is truly an album to lose one's self in.

2

Pylon --Killing Joke

The legendary post-punk outfit returned with their fifteenth study album in 2015. It was the third album since 2009's Absolute Dissent to feature the group's original lineup, vocalist Jaz Coleman, guitarist Geordie Walker, bassist Youth and drummer Paul Ferguson. Previously this lineup had produced the band's original trio of albums, the self-titled debut, What's THIS For... and Revelations. After this trilogy of post-punk classics, Youth departed and beginning with the fifth album, 1985's Night Time, Killing Joke pursued a more New Wave-centric sound. While this initially brought the group more commercial success, Killing Joke had come dangerously close to being a parody of their former selves by the late 1980s.

Beginning with 1990's Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions, the group returned with a much heavier, more industrial metal-oriented sound which reflected the legions of heavy rock bands the group had influenced in the 1980s. This sound was refined and perfected on 1994's Pandemonium and 1996's grossly underrated Democracy. The Jokers did not return again until 2003 with another self-titled album, this one both an angry political bomb reflecting the Bush years as well as a subtle bid to cash in on the group's vast influence (witness the nu-metal riffs and the presence of David Grohl on drums). 2006's Hosannas from the Basement of Hell was a much better and more ambitious offering in addition to being arguably the group's heaviest ever outing.

When the original lineup returned with 2009's Absolute Dissent, much of the heavier edge of the post-Extremities albums was retained, but some elements of the group's classic post-punk and even New Wave sound was also incorporated, bringing things full circle. This led to a pair of albums (Absolute Dissent and 2012's MMXII) that were more musically diverse than anything the group had done since the 1990s as well as featuring some of the Jokerss best ever songwriting. MMXII, which ran the gauntlet from raging rockers such as "Fema Camp" to the moody ballad like "In Cythera", was an especially strong outing that could easily revival some of the group's classic 80s and 90s albums.

Thus Pylon had a very hard act to follow and it does stumble somewhat. Part of this is due to the production, which seems just a little to clean to this listener's ear. While the prior three albums had a delightfully raw edge to them, Pylon is easily the group's sleekest offering since the 2003 comeback. Of course, "sleek" in relation to Killing Joke is very relative, but I can't help but feel some of these songs are missing a bit of nastiness to them. And it doesn't help that the group could write tracks like "New Cold War" in their sleep by this point.

"Autonomous Zone" immediately draws the listener in with its thunderous rhythm section and buzzing guitars and keyboards though some of the following tracks can't quite maintain the exuberant beginning. Moody offerings such as the very 80s "Euphoria" and "Big Buzz" feature some of the album's most potent moments but it is the surprisingly catchy "New Jerusalem" that is the album's center piece. Riding a killer groove, Jaz Coleman outlines society's ills over the verse until a furious tribal assault from drummer Paul Ferguson propels the chorus into overdrive.

So while Pylon can't quite reach the heights of the prior two albums, it is still a strong offering from a veteran band nearly four decades into their run. But when all is said and done, the freshness of the original lineup playing together again is gone. While Absolute Dissent and MMXII found the band toying with the various sounds they had explored over the years to forge a new sonic identity that brought together everything that had come before, Pylon seems like a recap of the prior two albums. This could have been an issue had the songwriting not been so strong, but fortunately the band delivers in this department and that is enough to make this one of the best albums of 2015.

1

Ecate --Ufomammut

The phrase "cosmic doom" was invented specifically for acts like Italy's Ufomammut. Combing elements of the psychedelic spaciness of early Pink Floyd and Hawkwind with the massive, hypnotic riffs of stoner doom bands like Sleep and Electric Wizard, the three piece has carved out one of the most distinct sounds of any group in the twenty-first century. They first hit their stride with 2004's landmark Snailking and took things to new heights with 2010's Eve. Apparently inspired by Pink Floyd's 1971 classic Meddle, Eve was essentially one long, forty-plus minute song broken into five movements.

At this point in time Ufomammut's potent brew of trippy synths and psychedelic effects galore with mysterious samples, mixed-back and unintelligible vocals and skull rattling riffs achieved a state of high art. As ambitious as ever, the group returned in 2012 with a pair of albums: ORO: Opus Primum and ORO: Opus Alter. As the ORO bit implies, these two works were linked: Each album consisted of half of one massive song. While many long time fans were impressed by the scale of the group's compositions, this listener felt that both of the ORO albums were ponderous (and even pompous at times).

Perhaps realizing that they had pushed the envelope as far as they could with extended song, Ufomammut returned in 2015 with Ecate, their tightest collection of individual compositions since 2008's Idiom. All Ufomammut works are steeped in the occult and Ecate is no different. The title is short for Hecate, the notorious Greek witch goddess, while the album's artwork is littered with mystical symbols (the individual portraits assigned to each song are especially illuminating). Unsurprisingly, themes of death, rebirth and transcendence abound. 

There are six songs in total, with each half of the album divided into two long songs intersected by a shorter track. The first of these shorter tracks, "Plouton" is possibly the most brutal song on the album while "Revelations" is the most atmospheric. The longer tracks are easily the highlights of Ecate, however. Opener "Somnium" rides a crushing groove for several minutes before downshifting into a reflective midsection before exploding into the conclusion. "Chaosecret" begins with a spacey atmosphere that incorporates distant vocals into the mix for nearly six minutes before unleashing a riff that could destroy planets. Closer "Daemons" is relentless throughout while still maintaining Ufomammut's trademark trippiness. 

On the whole Ecate marks a stellar return to first principals for the Italian trio even if it sacrifices some artistic growth in the process. Still, countless bands would kill for an album as distinct as this one. Highly recommended.

Ufomammut live

And with that I bring the top 13 of 2015 to a close. Honorable mentions also go out to Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats' Night Creeper, Ecstatic Vision's Sonic Praise, Death Alley's Black Magic Boogieland, Mondo Drag's self-titled sophomore outing, Dungen's Allas Sak, Midnight Ghost Train's Cold Was the Ground, Fogg's High Testament, Kind's Rocket Science, Goatsnake's Black Age Blues and All Them Witches' Dying Surfer Meets His Maker. That's twenty-three albums in total for 2015 of some quality. Hopefully the reader has found something of interest in anyone of these albums that will alleviate some of the doldrums of modern pop culture. Until next time dear reader.

your humble reviewer was all set to catch Killing Joke's North American tour on January 15th, but the band canceled the tour days before it was set to kick off due to health problems for one group member; so it goes for what is looking like an ominous year for musical legends