Revolutionary Demonology

by Gruppo di Nun, Amy Ireland (Foreword)

The End Times are here. The Digital Middle Ages approaches, the plague reaps its deadly harvest, climate apocalypse is around the corner, and fanaticism, fascism, and madness are rampant.

The idea that we might gain the upper hand over the dark abyss into which the planet is tumbling is a form of magical thinking, labouring under the delusion that it can subdue eternity with relentless bloodlust, brutish exploitation, abuse of power, and violence. Revolutionary Demonology responds to this ritual of control, typical of what esoteric tradition calls the ‘Dogma of the Right Hand’, by instead reactivating the occult forces of a Left Hand Path that strives for the entropic disintegration of all creation, so as to make peace with the darkness and nourish the Great Beast that will finally break the seals of Cosmic Love.

Unpredictable and fascinating, genuinely bizarre, at times hallucinatory, sullying politics, philosophy, cybertheory, religion, and music alike with its fevered touch, this ‘anthology of occult resistance’ collects together the communiqués of an arcane group who are already being hailed as the first morbid blossoming of ‘Italian Weird Theory’: a rogue contingent of theorists, witches, and sorcerers who heretically remix gothic accelerationism with satanic occultism and insurrectional necromancy.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Theory, Occult, Nonfiction, History

345 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2020

Reviews

[Sergio Segura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm glad that this book exists. In every way, it's the spiritual sequel to Ccru: Writings 1997-2003 and I couldn't think of a more deserving book to fill that role. I just didn't care for it. The work is presented as a series of essays on "Revolutionary Demonology" (a more doom metal version of conspiratorial communism), "Gothic Insurrection, or Goth/Ins” (most consistently defined as a less-historically-illiterate U/Acc), then some discussion on Christian mysticism (Ss. Christina the Astonishing, Simeon Stylites, & Angela of Foligno), and concludes with Amy Ireland’s afterword. Even though there are some conflicting ideas and somewhat of a consistency issue between essays, I feel confident calling the book a Landian critique of Nick Land, or more accurately of the various reactionaries associated with Nick Land (from Curtis Yarvin to traditionalist gym bros). Where it falls short is in its inability to escape the Nick Land Extended Universe, which while costing the book much of its mythos (like Tiamat and Hermetic Kabbalah), would no longer privilege the centrality of Land in their narrative and allow for a more incisive critique. Overall, the book feels like a redistillation of the late 2010s overly-online philosophy discourse (heavily featuring Nick Land), which isn’t in of itself a bad thing and makes it a fitting sequel to Ccru: Writings 1997-2003, I just personally didn’t find much new content. So not to end too negatively, I thought that the essay “Gothic (A)Theology” was pretty good in its criticism of the preceding two essays. The chemist from “Spectral Materialism” should also probably figure out why they’re breathing in so much solvent vapor. That's definitely not healthy.

[Stefano Bracci]

Da mettere nel bookshelf: libri che mi vogliono far riconvertire al cristianesimo

bisogna ringraziare Nero editore con le loro copertine stylish per aver messo una plastica profilattica che possa salvare il lettore dal sole nero del paperback che a stento contiene le deiezioni degli AA. VV. di questo libro

Temevo e speravo di trovare qua una sorta di scimmiottamento italiano della CCRU, misteriosa organizzazione con un culto molto attivo, e in diverse maniere c'è: esoterismo, LARPismo sull'orlo dell'imbarazzante, masturbazioni filosofiche (una delle grandi eredità di George Bataille), pessimismo cosmico, e un forte senso di vergogna mista a fascino che accompagna la lettura. Questa raccolta molto eterogenea sembra a malapena avere una "missione" da compiere o qualcosa da dimostrare (come faceva un pò intendere l'introduzione), sembra un'accozzaglia di interessi degli autorx che non vedevano l'ora di discutere con qualcunx (film horror, il southern gothic, la Madonna) attaccati insieme dal collante di uno spudorato catastrofismo. Tra i migliori momenti, una curiosa genealogia del sound della Dark polo gang, il viaggio nella chimica scritto da una degli autori (e pare che questo sia meramente il "side hustle" della sua carriera da chimica, which is impressive, ed è sempre buono contaminare scienza e filosofia). Sono ottime e affascinanti le osservazioni sui Bathory e i Darkthrone, ma forse come avrei preferito fosse tutto un forbito articolo di Ondarock invece che un libro. La parte peggiore per me invece, questo insostenibile nichilismo Mainlanderriano che si spaccia pure per positivo o addirittura ottimista. Direi che è un'opinione personale, ma non ci vedo nulla di felice nell'entropia, di liberatorio sì, ma non la farei la mia bandiera. Quando sto a Napoli non penso alla distruzione imminente del Vesuvio, e il calore umano e gioioso della città lo esorcizza. Pynchon esorcizza in "entrhopy", e nei suoi scritti successivi, i momenti di abbandono e disgregazione più spinti con forti commoventi momenti "umani". Ebbene io devo esorcizzare questo nihilismo a cui sono stato così oscenamente esposto. Rifiuto la sua universalità, e allo stesso tempo voglio rifiutare tutta questa corrente di pensiero. Deleuze viene preso dal didietro e inseminato per generare mostri Landiani di deterritorializzazione (senza -ri). Il realismo speculativo etc. è una sorta di zimbello della filosofia contemporanea. Fisher è molto più vicino al comunismo di Negri e degli operaisti che ammirava (un l/accelerazionismo secondo me, ma seguendo un pensiero filosofico molto più tradizionale e maturo, non come l'uber-razzista Land a cui ancora leccano il culo). Reclamo quindi il Fisher di acid communism invece della sua versione edgy. Anche Plant aveva capito che non bisogna avere nulla a che fare con tutto "questo". La parte dove questo movimento sembra avere avuto più successo è Twitter, dove almeno è divertente seguirlo (e dove si può trovare anche un'elevata componente di schizofrenia e psicosi). Voglio quindi abnegare questi falsi idoli e voltare le spalle come hanno fatto molti alti filosofi che ammiro molto di più. Lo faccio perchè penso che crescerei di più seguendo questa strada più "istituzionale", senza concedermi ai divertissement di lemuri, numonologie, e altre sfaccimm', ma lo faccio anche per me, perchè non credo di poter sostenere questo nichilismo così spinto, macabro, tra esaltazione del suicidio e il coping mechanism, che quasi vuole che i demoni di Lovecraft fossero veri. Ecco, per proteggermi voglio negare tutto questo e considerarlo letteratura molto immaginifica, anche perchè è assolutamente inutile a livello di prassi, da mettere vicino ai libri per giovani annoiati e ribelli, per fasi adolescenziali mall-goth da cui si entra ed esce.

giudizio: bel libro ma vorrei non esistesse

[Luca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uhhhhhhhrrrrrmmmhhhh

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essays contained in Revolutionary Demonology aim to create an "alternate occult praxis and theory", using sources so different as Hermetic Kabbalah, speculative realism philosophy, nihilism, even lovecraftian cosmic horror, they give a series of alternatives to counter the insidious Control of the Right Hand Path (with fascism as its more militant face) and its tyrannical view of the cosmos (in the same vein as the CCRU before, where they explained the war between the One God Universe and the Magical Universe).

Personally I found some of the essays really interesting and with some ideas that match my own research and praxis, others not that much and in some ways, I realized some occult concepts are interpreted in a way to fit their own agenda. My personal favorites: Dogma, Catastrophic Astrology, Solarisation, Mater Dolorosa and The Highest Form of Gnosis

[mikayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. I already can’t wait to read it again. “The Highest Form of Gnosis” imo is the best essay of the book. Reading this book makes me feel like there are other gloomy pseudocatholic philosophy nerds and I should probably get back into writing essays because I loved reading theirs.

[Diletta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ammettere fluidità e riappacificarsi con il buio. Il Grimorio che ci meritiamo in questo periodo, per rovesciare ricordi e strutture rigide e creare nuovi meccanismi.

[Alex Obrigewitsch · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a sad expression of the state of Urbanomic, unfortunately. The thing with Nick Land is that, behind all the verbal theatrics and complex terminology there is at least a thought tending towards real expression, utilizing the aforementioned elements as functional elements in its machinic thought/writing.

In this work there is vacuous terminological pomposity which is glaring in its aping attempts. And, as with most aping, beneath this veil there is not a complex thought, but instead juvenile whimperings which are, frankly, embarrassing. One is not surprised that the authors hid their names behind mere initials (given that this practice produces neither true anonymity nor any semblance of communality to the expression - this was, one will surely recall, common practice in the age of newsprint...).

So edgy it hurts (especially given that it is not near any true edge, locating itself at the center of reactionary politics, the corpse of Christian faith, nationalist drivel under a thinly veiled guise, and inane topics such as weightlifting and questionable music tastes), even an Afterword by Amy Ireland can't save this mess of a text. There is no real demonology at all at work here (the introductory piece is quickly forgotten), and the same might be said of anything revolutionary (there is nothing revolutionary about countering the positions of Evola, as countering fascism should be a given; and in terms of "magic," there is nothing here but aping and hollow words as well. "Rites"? These are but essays - mediocre ones, at that). Were there anything revolutionary, magical, or demonological at work here, one might be fearful; but what are these people (not even no ones) going to do - curse me? Be honest - this was written by teenagers, be they already in excess of the biotemporal measure of years designated by this word (even more sad still).

Please don't buy this book. Save your money. Read Tiqqun. Go out and act. Don't sit in your room and cry, vainly and self-servingly, in Italian or otherwise...

[Mariam Rawwas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sade lays out for our benefit the theory that it is through crime that man collaborates in the new creations of nature. The idea is that the pure force of nature is obstructed by its own forms, that because the three realms present fixed forms they bind nature to a limited cycle, that is, moreover, manifestly imperfect, as is demonstrated by the chaos and abundance of conflicts as well as the fundamental disorder of their reciprocal relations. As a result, the deepest concern that can be imputed to this psychic subject that is Nature is that of wanting to wipe the slate clean, so that it may begin its task once more, set out again with a new burst of energy.
This discussion is completely literary, in the sense that it is not scientifically founded, but is rather poetic in character. In this luxuriant hodge-podge, from time to time one comes across what some people might take to be tedious digressions. But as you will see, they are entertaining to read. Thus, although reading always risks distracting one’s audience’s attention, I am going to read a passage from Sade’s system:

Without destruction the earth would receive no nourishment and, as a result, there would be no possibility for man to reproduce his species. It is no doubt a fateful truth, since it proves in an invincible way that the vices and virtues of our social system are nothing, and that the very vices are more necessary than the virtues, because they are creative and the virtues are merely created; or, if you prefer, the vices are causes and the virtues no more than effects. … A too perfect harmony would thus be a greater disadvantage than disorder; and if war, discord and crime were banished from the earth, the power of the three realms would be too violent and would destroy in its turn all the other laws of nature. The celestial bodies would all stop. Thier influences would be halted by the excessive power of one of them; there would be neither gravitation nor movement. It is thus men’s crimes that introduce disorder into the sphere of the three realms and prevent this sphere from achieving a level of superiority that would disrupt all the others, by maintaining the perfect balance Horace called rerum concordia discors. Thus crime is necessary in the world. But the most useful crimes are no doubt those that disrupt the most, such as the refusal of propagation or destruction; all the others are worthless or rather only those two are worthy of the name of crime. Thus only the crimes mentioned are essential to the laws of the three realms and essential also to the laws of nature. A philosopher in antiquity called war the mother of all things. The existence of murderers is as necessary as plagues; without both of them everything in the universe would be upset. … such dissolution serves nature’s purposes, since it recomposes that which is destroyed. Thus every change operated by man on organized matter serves nature much more than it opposes it. What am I saying? The service of nature requires far more total destructions … destructions much more complete than those we are able to accomplish. Nature wants atrocities and magnitude in crimes; the more our destructions are of this type, the more they will be agreeable to it. To be of even greater service to nature, one should seek to prevent the regeneration of the body that we bury. Murder only takes the first life of the individual whom we strike down; we should also seek to take his second life, if we are to be even more useful to nature. For nature wants annihilation; it is beyond our capacity to achieve the scale of destruction it desires.

I presume that you have grasped the significance of the core of this last statement. It takes us to the heart of what was explained last time, in connection with the death drive, as the point of division between the Nirvana or annihilation principle, on the one hand, and the death drive, on the other – the former concerns a relationship to a fundamental law which might be identified with that which energetics theorizes as the tendency to return to a state, if not of absolute rest, then at least of universal equilibrium.
The death drive is to be situated in the historical domain; it is articulated at a level that can only be defined as a function of the signifying chain, that is to say, insofar as a reference point, that is a reference point of order, can be situated relative to the functioning of nature. It requires something from beyond whence it may itself be grasped in a fundamental act of memorization, as a result of which everything may be recaptured, not simply in the movement of the metamorphoses but from an initial intention.

- Jacques Lacan, The Seminar, Book VII: The Ethics of Psychoanalysis

One can see where I'm heading with this... there is a "destructive ontology" operating at the core of this work, one that I can only assimilate to Sade because I don't know how else to interpret it. There's a flurry of references to deities and archetypal figures culled from the history of theology and mythology, but I don't find it earned, because there simply isn't the proper treatment of any of these traditions here, just mere allusions. There's an insinuation, sometimes an explicit claim, that this "destructive ontology" is feminine, sapphic even, and even that it is meant as a rejection of the heteronormative logic of reproduction (this argument is rather reminiscent of Edelman). I'm unconvinced to say the least. There are also some unironic and seemingly uncritical references to Land, which is always a red flag, and he is only read critically once in the entire collection, and even then seemingly via immanent critique. In this sense, all of his assumptions are seemingly still taken aboard. Beyond all this, the chapters/essays vary widely in topic, and many come off very para-academic, with pseudo- or pop- treatments of scientific theories, music and film, theosophy, etc. Overall, I remain unimpressed.

[Justin McAuley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been sitting on a review of this book for about a year now, and I think my opinion has changed on it and the book has grown on me.

Originally, I shelved the book around the middle of the final essay partly because of boredom and partly because I was in a bit of a hurry to read something else.

I preordered this book when Urbanomic announced in would be publishing it around 2022. At the time, I had recently finished reading the CCRU Writings and a few other small pieces in what people have started calling the “Nick Land Extended Universe.”

When I first received the book, I was expecting a dense, esoteric grimoire of demons and stories that built on some of the fiction in CCRU. This book is not that, however, and I don’t think you should go into this book expecting CCRU Pt. 2 or anything of that nature.

I read Cyclonopedia by Reza Negarastani after this book, which I think was a mistake. In my opinion, you should read CCRU, followed by Cyclonopedia, followed by Revolutionary Demonology if you want to fully grasp its content.

Now, for the actual review:
Revolutionary Demonology does have some genuinely insightful ideas about philosophy and especially Western esotericism and magic. Their interpretations of Crowley and the influence of Cyclonopedia converge together in a thought provoking version of something I’d call “mystical nihilism.”

I particularly liked their adaptation of Crowley’s concept of Love into something more akin to Cyclonopedia’s “data-dust” or “Xerodrome.” I also found their responses to some of Julius Evola’s ideas about Tiamat/“The Waters” to be thought-out and interesting.

Another great part of this book that others have pointed out is its cultural essays. The essays on the ethnomusicology of black metal and early Italian cinema were very interesting and the interpretations that the authors took away from these mediums were original and interesting. The essays on Lil Peep and the film Hereditary also had interesting ideas; however, I think they tended to become a bit of a slog at times.

With all that being said, the book is mostly held back by its stylistic approach to writing. The authors clearly had an aesthetic in mind, and maybe that’s sort of the point for a book like this, but I think it missed the mark. If all this book tried to be was a collection of essays of philosophical and magical analysis of art, science, and other writers, I think it could have been a fine, modest book worthy of 4 stars and an optimistic hope for something more ambitious, sort of like something in the vain of Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy.

However, this book definitely tries to have a certain aesthetic to it. I think it does try to be an esoteric, dark grimoire of demons. Even the opening essay seems to try and establish a sort of “canon” of demons in the vain of what CCRU did with Lemuria, which never really gets expanded on in a meaningful way.

Many of the essays are held back by their stylistic excess. Some of it is plain old edginess, and some of it comes off as self-aggrandizing at times. This is why people group this in with the “Nick Land Cinematic Universe.” The CCRU Writings managed to walk on a thin line of rich philosophical content and aesthetic/fictional style, which Revolutionary Demonology tries to imitate but ultimately ends up holding back from a better expression of their genuinely interesting perspectives on magic and philosophy, and creating a lackluster aesthetic on top of that.

Ultimately, I decided to give the book 3 stars. I think the book could’ve easily been 4 stars had the authors focused on content more than style, but I still enjoyed the book’s ideas and found the style somewhat promising. If you know about this book at all, your interests are probably niche enough to already enjoy Gruppo Di Nun’s discussions on magic, culture, philosophy, etc.

I also understand that this is not only their first major work, this is also a translation from Italian. I do not read Italian and have no idea what the original texts are like, so the stylistic excess that I complain about may just be a result of translation into English.

Gruppo Di Nun is a group of authors I would love to see more from, I hope that they expand on their philosophy and magical ideas and, if they choose to pursue fiction writing as well, I hope they separate it a little more from their direct philosophical inquiry. I will definitely be keeping up with their work in the future.

[Poiq Wuy · Rating 3 out of 5]

El libro comienza fuerte y luego se desinfla. El enunciado de la propuesta es poderoso: abrir un [[camino de la mano izquierda - magia]] que se opone, desde una posición polimorfa, al [[camino de la mano derecha - magia]] tradicional. Este último, dice el [[Gruppo di Nun]] siempre ha buscado remontarse a la fuente original, única, de la que todo desciende jerárquicamente —neoplatónicamente—; bien para dominarlo y que la voluntad del mago se torne acto ([[Aleister Crowley|Crowley]]), bien para someterse a él y ser iluminado por él ([[ascesis]]): la unión con Dios en ambos casos. Ellos etiquetan de fascista (～[[Gilles Deleuze]]) esta posición y pretenden construir un sistema sin principio, una serie desencajable y reconstruible de herramientas; en lugar del 777 que desciende linealmente desde [[Kéter]] hasta [[Malkut]], proponen una fontanería cabalística decapitada que habilita múltiples caminos posibles (p.2). Es una lástima que esta propuesta no coagule en un sistema completo, elaborado. El resto de textos son comentarios de diversos temas, con numerosas experiencias personales entreveradas y menciones a la cohorte consabida de los [[nuevos realismos - materialismos]], de [[Nick Land]] y la [[CCRU]] hasta [[Karen Barad]] y [[Reza Negarestani]].

> Revolutionary Demonology was born of and developed through a reflection on the role of the Kabbalah in Western esoteric traditions. More generally, what lay at the root of our work was the sudden awareness of a pervasive and viral symmetry transversal to magical thought; the revolution we refer to is, first and foremost, an urgent need for a radical subversion of this symmetry. The decision to refer to our work as demonology is linked to our conviction that magic is essentially something that does not concern us as human beings, and that the mechanisms that inspire and drive magical thought are fundamentally foreign to human civilisation.

Un aspecto principal de su entramado de ideas es la adoración a la degeneración progresiva, que culminará en la [[muerte térmica del universo]], y que, aunque la postulen como liberadora y fascinante-oscura, cuesta no leerla como pesimista-adolescente. Si la cosmovisión de la magia pre- y alter-cristiana se correspondía a un mundo cíclico, repetitivo, en consonancia con principios de armonía y regreso al equilibrio, la cosmovisión actual, con la [[segunda ley de la termodinámica]] como guía ineludible al caos, reclama, en opinión de los autores, unos principios distintos para la magia y el espíritu de nuestro tiempo en general. Proponen cambiar el culto a [[Ra]] por el culto a [[Apophis]].

> We propose Love for the cosmic process of disintegration and death as an alternative, refusing to articulate the reasons. Love generates itself indefinitely, precipitating, like a sinister spiral, the world into darkness. We love with our bodies burning like supernovae, shining and useless; with every breath, we feed the hungry Beast that wraps us in its dark coils.

[BugNotBugYesBug · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is, at its core, a Landian pastiche, in the vein the more esoteric texts from Fanged Noumena. The strongest part of the book is by far the opening, Every Worm Trampled is a Star. Part theory fiction, part ritual, and part stream of consciousness devotional writing. It is beautiful. Spectral Materialism is another standout.

Unfortunately, the book rapidly falls apart after this. One of the chief issues with this book is that the scholarship is actually rather weak on the occult front. Specifically, using Evola as a major source for critique and development is pretty much self-defeating on its face. As a small example, the definition of the right-hand and left-hand path are inverted from typical presentations, and it is done, as far as I can tell, solely so that Gruppo Di Nun can continue to claim they're left hand path practitioners. The typical distinction made places them squarely in the vein of RHP work, and indeed, when this rhetorical sleight of hand is removed, what you find is variously Thelemic or Buddhist thought dressed in goth drag with some media criticism bolted on.

And this narrowness of material is a theme throughout the book. An extremely specific vein of Black Metal is subjected to analysis in Gothic Insurrection, the more progressive and experimental wings, the ones that attract the most fans and attention, are almost completely ignored in favor of the tedious and overdone corpsepaint and kvlt basement tapes. The analysis of Mandy though, is I think, one of the better points of the book.

Their usage of Kabbalistic thought, is also, quite simply, ill thought out and disrespectful. This is because the work is so heavily indebted to Nick Land, who also suffers deeply from this issue. Calling an important branch of Jewish mysticism a cultural virus really is not something anyone should be doing. It is simply a bad idea. Don't do that. And this is emblematic of the rest of the book's flaws. When the author steps out of their quite narrow domain expertise, the critique undoes itself, reinforcing the very things it attacks in small ways.

Even more damning though is the refusal to engage with the massive corpus of work on the philosophy of death and dying outside of Nick Land's narrow nihilistic purview. A key assumption not analyzed or acknowledged as problematic is that "modernity causes a crisis of nihilism." Which is a baffling claim to make that ignores pretty much all developments in philosophy from the existentialists onwards. It is also unfortunately, a core conceit of the book.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 Stars, goddamnit all that amazon money and you still can't do half-star ratings?)

After a month and a half, I'm finally finished with the weirdest book I've read. Weirdest but also one that I do appreciate the content presented. This is my first foray into the Kabbalistic mysticism merging with cybergothic, Nick Land accelerationism. And that doesn't even cover the gamut of what this book is trying to put forth. I will be honest, I went into this thinking it would be like Solomon's Ars Goetia, something more rooted into the mystic side of things. But what I did get, was a Lefty critique and parody of Evola's right-wing ramblings (with Gruppo Di Nun being a parodic name of his group, the Gruppo di Ur), full speed ahead on a magical cocktail of denouncing his patriarchal fascistic occultism, and embracing the "left-hand path" of divine and mystic femininity, sexual liberation, and gothic revolution all mixed in the Jewish mystic system of the Kabbalah.

I enjoyed what I read, despite (if I do say so myself), woefully unprepared for the material within this book. I never read Nick Land (despite Fanged Noumena sitting on my desk as I write this), and I never read Deleuze and Guattari's "Anti-Oedipus", so a lot of the references and call-backs to these thinkers were slightly lost on me. However, that doesn't mean to say that my reading was soured due to that. The Gothic Insurrection chapter is probably my favourite because it incorporated a music genre that I am well acquainted with: Black Metal. Specifically, the earlier wave of Norwegian Black Metal, such the likes of Dark Throne, and the progenitor of "Viking Metal", Bathory. It felt very appropriate to bring in this comparison of how as a music genre, Black Metal fits perfectly with this perspective of rebellion and insurrection, since the first wave of the genre was a rebellion to many things (the Christianization of Europe, the polished sound of the later wave of American Death Metal, etc etc.).

All that to say, there were moments where the material just lost me as it started to sound like a lot of fluff without substance in certain parts, evoking grandiose concepts with large-scoring scrabble words strung together to further complicate a thought. still, The positives outweigh the negatives, and I felt that the afterword perfectly summed up the purpose of this book's existence. I will leave it here, and encourage others to make the leap of faith into the weird void that leaves you with more questions than answers.

[Joshua Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woah.

The book is not an easy or casual read, by any means. It demands concentration, a broad vocabulary, and a willingness to engage with a plethora of cited works. While originally written in Italian, the translation might add layers of complexity, though it still retains its core ideas. The text can be enjoyed linearly or in a non-sequential manner, offering readers different pathways to engage with its content. While it might be challenging for the uninitiated, those who persevere will find a rich mix of ideas that challenge, provoke, and illuminate.

Rooted in the esoteric traditions of the Left Hand Path, the text presents a radical challenge to contemporary societal norms, structures, and beliefs, especially those tied to heteropatriarchal systems.

The book paints a dire picture of the current global landscape, characterized by the Digital Middle Ages, plagues, climate apocalypse, and the rise of fanaticism and fascism. It critiques exploitation, violence, and power abuses typical of hierarchical systems, arguing against a "Dogma of the Right Hand," which represents established and controlling paradigms, while advocating for a more chaotic and entropic approach, striving for the disintegration of creation.

The anthology delves deep into the realms of the occult, blending themes from demonology with other sources of mysticism, including Sumerian mythology, pop culture, Christian demonology, and more.

What I couldn’t get into was how the text discusses the "energetic decay of patriarchal temporal structures" and posits the rise of a feminized civilization. This theme suggests a deep engagement with gender dynamics, exploring the ways femininity has been domesticated, suppressed, and at times turned monstrous in patriarchal societies.

Of course, it wouldn’t be complete without cyberpunk aesthetics intermingled with the esoteric themes, including references to rebellious androids, synthetic hormones, and a broader engagement with technological and digital narratives.

What I did enjoy was how the book employs a vivid and sometimes confronting language, reminiscent of black or death metal lyrics. This aesthetic choice underscores the text's intensity and its challenge to comfortable or established ways of thinking.

[Pieter-Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book starts of promising, halfway starts to veer off from actual demonology to CCRU/Landian commentary and closes with some strong final chapters.
This book has some very interesting concepts and I'll be sure to revisit them for my own work (especially 'solarisation'). A lot of topics, like stylites, anti-cosmicism and even the aborted haunting city of Remoria are weaved into what's definitely a unique LHP paradigm that underscores the 'left' in LHP more than any other school in that area.

The biggest remark, as mentioned here before, is that the occult is far more than Evola. Sure, the group's name is an inversion of Evola's own group and a creative spin at it.. But even Kabbalah is tangentially discussed. Aleister Crowley, Kenneth Grant and Austin Osman Spare got mentioned, but only stepmotherly.

A missed opportunity, because it wishes to be a 'philosophical grimoire', but it ends up delivering mostly a publication that fits faculty graduates tastes. So that means, like it's been said here before too, essays demonstrating a vast capacity to reference disparate sources and sticking to a certain discursive aesthetic. The result then is that it ends up just trying to find out a few concepts from the LHP that can match with left-accelerationist ideas more than exploring actual occult frameworks.

As said, the ending chapters and Amy Ireland's closing words definitely make up for a sluggish middle and there's still a lot to be taken from this book.

[Rex · Rating 1 out of 5]

What Urbanomic's general output often lacks in analytical rigor, it usually makes up for in at least some kind of thought-provoking reframing of philosophical issues. Not so for Revolutionary Demonology. It starts on a somewhat promising, if a bit self-congratulatory in its pessimism, with the Introduction to Revolutionary Demonology setting out a concrete cosmological issue - magical systems try to reproduce a rigid, despotic vision of the universe which is futile because of entropy, whatever, this necessitates an understanding of demonic forces otherwise held at the periphery. It would probably have been okay if it followed along this trajectory.

Instead, you get a bunch of terrible Nick Land fanfiction. The authors continuously try to impress the reader, and moreover themselves, by demonstrating their vast capacity to reference disparate sources for no discernible reason. The text fails to even be thought-provoking in its meritless value judgments and meandering attempts at literary interpretation. Not only do the authors spend pages and pages providing irrelevant summaries of texts as if only to show off that they've read them, they also waste even more ink summarizing each other's preceding essays!

Brain rot.

[Eye Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

a whole-heartedly novel pursuit, especially if one frames "magic" from a right-wing vs left-wing, left hand path vs right hand path dichotomy. to be sure. so to reclaim practices into a left-wing fold? now?? perhaps apropos. or maybe just a shot in the dark for left-leaning partisans seeking a way to make sense of the dark populism or our current times?

but perhaps. this is essentially what it may take. an inter-displincinary non-academic consortium to address and/or counter the fall of NeoLiberalism by dark Populist means. we are in a literal Apocalypse, Christianity has failed you. your other option is Communism. perhaps. but no.

this invigorating treatise can show another world is possible...

[Andy Stark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is complicated. I probably couldn’t tell you what it’s about even though I just finished it, but I can tell you I liked it. It’s unfortunately written in a very inaccessible way that assumes the reader’s familiarity with obscure and nuanced philosophical writings, but the overall messages put forth are interesting and important. What if we look at magic and religion from a non-human centric point of view? What if we consider that organized religions are inherently fascist? How do we accept the decline of our society and our inevitable race toward death without succumbing to nihilism and despair? Really interesting and absolutely unique insights.

[Sabina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puedo decir que me dejó pensando y mucho por el estado de las cosas. Tiene algunas propuestas maravillosas pero la constante presencia de Land (en sus citas) no me dibujan un cuadro coherente con the left hand path.

La sección de Mater Dolorosa es en términos literarios un ejercicio apasionante tanto por estilo como por temática.

Varios momentos son informativos como apasionante pero insisto: la larga sombra de Nick Land causa no poca desconfianza.

[Tex Cortez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect thing for me to read as a depressed autistic 21 years old. So angsty and such a strange book but i thoroughly read and enjoyed each page. A philosophy that focuses on the infinite downward spiral of everything and the suicidal tendency of the universe is pretty cool if you ask me

[melancholinary · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to Acid (Neo)Realism, Catholic Dark, and black metal, I suddenly forgot all the expanded Landian universes that the group tried to develop in Revolutionary Demonology. Hungry for more left-hand path clinical analysis of 50s-60s Italian Southern Gothic ethnography cinemas.

[No · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book at all given what can be expected from its prehistory, CCRU, Land, Eugene Thacker, etc. But the book seems very inconsistent and reads like an Italian pastiche of the American rock or something like that. The Christian bits don't help either.

[Lethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some parts are extremely insightful and beautifully written, others are completely obnoxious and pointless.
Overall the book sadly fails to put forth any kind of revolutionary project and remains stuck within idealist notions. "Lifting the Absolute", included in the book but not written by Gruppo di Nun, instead being an older text that influenced them, emanates a beyond worrying amount of Hitler Particles.
Nevertheless, 4 stars for the parts that i loved, even if they are outnumbered by bad ones.

[George Gulliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in a relatively short space of time. Gruppo di Nun trace an alternate esotericism that purposefully undermines the heterodoxy of traditional hermeticism and its recent expression in fascism.

Obsessed with thermodynamic death of the universe.

[Manfro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very difficult read, but an interesting anthology. Much more interesting in terms of its conversation with Evola than with Land and Plant.

[yibbyz · Rating 2 out of 5]

nick land schizoposting in 2020.... fun for parties i guess

[宗儒 李 · Rating 3 out of 5]

有些東西蠻有趣的，有些東西感覺是在瞎講XD
趕時間的人看Afterword就好

[Stratos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note to initiates: read the afterword first.

[Vietzsche · Rating 3 out of 5]

＞Revolutionary Demonology
＞Look inside
＞Catholic Mysticism
Full of stupid Kabbalah and other Jewish crap......

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely thoughtful and insightful whilst remaining consistently bizarre and fun. Would recommend.

[Hayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

quite revolutionary indeed