The year is 1971 and Mort Garson - already prolific in the emerging world of Moog synthesis through his zodiac series and the gentler Mother Earth's Plantasia - decides to peer into darker territories. Under the singular moniker Lucifer, he releases Black Mass, an album that remains his most unsettling and focused work.

This is occult electronics before the term had any real meaning. Ten pieces exploring supernatural phenomena through purely synthetic means - the Moog interpreting exorcism, witchcraft, voodoo, the philosopher's stone. Where Garson's other work from this period could veer toward the kitschy or overly demonstrative, Black Mass maintains an eerie restraint. The darkness here feels genuine rather than theatrical.

The opening "Solomon's Rising" establishes the terrain - percolating sequences, twittering scales, white noise bursts that suggest ritual rather than mere spectacle. "The Ride of Aida (Voodoo)" pulses with an insistent, almost motorik quality that connects to what Cluster or Harmonia were simultaneously exploring in Germany. The title track spirals through synthetic bells and abstract sound effects, building tension through repetition rather than obvious horror-movie gestures.

What's remarkable is how well this holds up beyond its era. Where many early Moog albums now sound dated or overly demonstrative, Black Mass maintains its strangeness. You can hear its DNA in Coil, in Oneohtrix Point Never, in the darker corners of contemporary electronic music. Garson understood something fundamental - that the Moog's alienness could convey genuine unease rather than mere novelty.