Band formation (1992) The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets formed in January 1992 after meeting at
Fraser Valley College in
Abbotsford, British Columbia. Lead singer Toren Atkinson and lead guitarist Warren Banks formed the band so they could open for local group
Mystery Machine. Even though they "had no musical training or experience" they were able to create a three song
set list and play the opening act for their first show. Jordan Pratt of Mystery Machine joined as the band's drummer in 1993 and quit Mystery Machine in 1999 to focus on The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. The band's name is drawn from a phrase in Lovecraft's story
The Tomb: "I will tell only of the lone tomb in the darkest of the hillside thickets". Atkinson and Banks decided to create a band around the Cthulhu mythos because it was a topic they were interested in, and it was a unique "niche that [needed] to be filled". In their early years the band produced three demo tapes:
Gurgle Gurgle Gurgle',
Hurts Like Hell!, and
Cthulhuriffomania. Most of the songs were later re-released on other albums.
Cthulhu Strikes Back (1995) The band's first CD release was
Cthulhu Strikes Back.
Cthulhu Strikes Back was re-released as a Special Edition in 2003, containing two new songs.
Great Old Ones (1996) In 1996, the band released
Great Old Ones.
Spaceship Zero (2000) In 2000, the Thickets released
Spaceship Zero: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The singer Toren said the album was "heavily inspired by the science fiction movies and reruns we'd all grown up with like
Lost in Space and
Angry Red Planet".
Spaceship Zero was released under a new record label, Divine Industries.
Let Sleeping Gods Lie (2002) In 2002, the Thickets collaborated with
Wizards of the Coast to release
Let Sleeping Gods Lie - an all-
Cthulhu Mythos themed CD. The album was used to promote Wizards' new
d20 edition of the
Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. The album contained twelve previously released Thickets tracks, and had a special tie-in with the Call of Cthulhu game rules. If the CD is played during a roleplaying session, the game contains rules for die roll modifiers that take effect depending on what song is currently playing.
The Shadow Out of Tim (2007) The Shadow Out of Tim is the Thickets' second theme album, after
Spaceship Zero. The title is a play on words from the H.P Lovecraft short story
The Shadow Out of Time. The album is an adaptation and a
rock opera based on Lovecraft's story. The album recounts the tale of a
marine biologist who found his body had "been possessed by an alien intelligence" and works to find out what happened. The album was released at the
Summer Solstice (June 21) 2007. Among the songs recorded during
The Shadow Out of Tim sessions were "Shhh...." and "(We're Gonna) Kill the Chupacabra (Tonight)." They were not included on the album as they "didn't fit in with the [album] narrative". Both were later released on
The Dukes of Alhazred in 2017. In 2009, the
Shadow Out Of Tim song "Blackout" was nominated for the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for Hard Rock/Metal Song of the year.
PAX, Child's Play, and Rock Band (2008) In 2008, the Thickets were invited to play at the
Penny Arcade Expo. Their performance at the event led to their previously unreleased song "Shhh...." being included as a downloadable track in the PAX 2008 Collection for the video game
Rock Band. A Thickets song was also included on the "
Child's Play CD 2008" compilation. In December that year the Thickets organized a fundraiser dubbed "Cthulhupalooza". The event included a show by the band, as well as screening of
The Call of Cthulhu and a
Rock Band contest. The winner of the
Rock Band contest won the opportunity to perform a
Rock Band song with the Thickets. Proceeds from the event were donated to Child's Play charity. A second Cthulhupalooza festival was run in 2011.
The Dukes of Alhazred (2017) In March 2016, the Thickets launched an
Indiegogo campaign to fund creation of a new album. The album successfully funded later that year. The album was released in 2017 with the title
The Dukes of Alhazred. A Stranger Aeons review said "If you like some catchy rock with your cosmic horror, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are your guys!" After the release, Jordan Pratt retired from the band and was replaced by Byron Slack from the band Invasives. In 2018, the Thickets won the "Rock" category for the Fraser Valley Music Awards.
Upcoming sixth album (2022–present) In September 2022, the band announced on Facebook that they had started working on their sixth album. == Musical style ==