The Music of Erich Zahn

[urbanruralferal]

A ghoulish and tortured scent, suffused with the blackness of space illimitable: ajowan, vetiver, black musk, opoponax, mimosa, and tamarind.

this goes on very strong in the vetiver department, and quickly takes on that baked good scent that I have noticed in centzon tetochtlan and recently in penny dreadful. What accounts for this characteristic, which is not like vanilla-y baked goods, but like a date oatcake you might purchase in some worker-owned coop bakery, I have no idea. Maybe it's just my skin chemistry faking me out. Nevertheless, it doesn't appeal.
Hours after application, this has settled into a familiar vetiver/black musk combo that is so nice in haunted, but I already have haunted and bluebeard to keep me happy so this goes off to swaps. Edited December 12, 2007 by Shollin

[fiddledragon]

I *adore* the tamarind in Nephilim, and it's the strongest note on my skin, so I was expecting this to be similar. Nope!

 

I smell like a curry. This makes sense, given the tamarind and ajowan, and I think the vetiver is adding a nice earthy depth to it. I smell like really tasty, but not particularly spicy, Indian food. While I approve of my house smelling like Indian food, it's a little odd as a personal scent. Maybe this'll work as a room scent, and I'm looking forward to seeing it age.

[shadesong]

In bottle: Huh. Weird. What does that remind me of?

 

On me: Indian restaurants. *looks up unfamiliar stuff* Ajowan. That's got to be it. I smell like an Indian restaurant. It's a foody smell, but savory, not sweet. I quite like it.

[dronzeka]

Okay, I was pretty intimidated by this, because black musk is just BAD on me, vetiver scares me, and I have no idea what opoponax and ajowan smell like. But you know, gotta try it anyway, so:

 

In the imp: I'm expecting something black and twisted, but this is... green. Very green.

 

On: It's still green. Maybe this is vetiver behaving, and adding the kind of green earthy note that people who like vetiver actually like? As it dries, what I'm really getting from this is mimosa. Which I find kind of funny, given all the scary-sounding notes in the description - mimosa doesn't seem tortured to me. Anyway, this is dark green, earthy, with a kind of brightness or gleam lent by the bubblier mimosa. But this mimosa isn't from any pretty tropical place - it's a pale flower glimmering out of forest-y shadows. Finally, when this dries down, I get the lovely Indian/Thai food scent of tamarind. The black musk doesn't really make an appearance on me, thank god.

 

Moral of the story: do not be scared by the descriptions! This is a lovely, dark, earthy green and spicy scent. It's by no means bright and cheery and bouncy - it has that kind of dark complex power that I associate with the Arkham scents, which really aren't a mild simple meek bunch - but it is deep and intriguing, and I really like it.

[bettybaker]

It smells like cheap from the microwavable box curry + a leetle bit of asthma-inducing head shop. I'll wear this on a date I want to go wrong.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: musky

 

On skin: Again, musky (the black musk is very prominent) and very savory. I do see how people would compare it to an Indian restaurant/curry. It's very fragrant (because of the ajowan).

 

On drydown: It's a little subtler and sweeter. The black musk mellows down, the ajowan is slightly less pungent and there is a sweetness that possibly comes from either the tamarind. There is a floral lilt to this... which could be a combination of the opoponax and the mimosa... or maybe I'm just guessing.

 

Verdict: I would definitely categorize this as a 'dark scent', and very turbulent at that. It's also 'masculine' in my mind because of the prevalent black musk. It's very fragrant and savory. Definitely interesting. Part of me likes it... because I like Indian food. Part of me thinks that this is not a scent to be messed with.

[captainecchi]

The "you will smell like an Indian restaurant" appealed to me, as I like foody smells.

 

When I put this on, I didn't remember what the notes were, and so I found it very hard to describe. It's pungent; spicy and incense-y (I'm guessing the ajowan, since it does indeed smell like Indian cooking), and a little musky (the musk, duh). There's a little something that burns at the back of my throat when I smell it. My husband tells me he smells ginger.

 

I'm not getting the vetiver, or any floral notes from the mimosa. I feel like I can almost smell the tamarind, but it's blending superbly well with the ajowan. And the musk is definitely well behaved; no sweaty armpit here!

 

This is kind of the dark scent I wanted Shub-Niggurath to be--a little foody, but still definitely a personal perfume. 4.5 out of 5--will definitely consider a bottle.

[LiberAmoris]

The Music of Erich Zach is fascinating stuff. I have to say I have not smelled any other BPAL blend that even remotely resembles it. And it's got a strange sort of sexuality about it that's kind of messing with my head, because I keep getting whiffs of tamarind chutney from it!

 

There's something very compelling about the mixture, something exotically foody but not sweet, something a little bit feral and dangerous, something outdoorsy and natural. It's a bizarre combo, but it's more than the sum of its parts. I probably wouldn't reach for this as a personal fragrance, but it's so amazingly evocative that I think I should probably hold onto the imp for a while. If I met a guy that smelled like this, it would be a foregone conclusion!

[Meg]

In the bottle: vetiver and black musk.

 

Wet: Sweet vetiver and black musk, there's something aquatic in there, too.

 

Drydown: I think this is ajowan, because it smells a bit like spicy celery. It's unexpectedly spicy, in fact. The aquatic note and vetiver is still in the background, mixing with the spice. I suppose that the tamarind is also adding to the exotic feel of the blend.

 

Overall: This smells very oriental, it definitely has a feel of Indian cuisine. As many vetiver blends, it ends up a bit powdery and smelling grimy or sweaty on me, like the adrenaline of a cook making some kind of curry. Not particuliarly appealing on me, but an interesting scent all the same.

[sd357]

This is a strange, complex scent. I can't pick out any of the notes in it - it's a sweet smell, with a dusky undertone. I don't know how to describe it. It gets sharper as it dries. It triggers a memory - something that I feel like I should recognize.

 

As it dries, I pick up occasional reminisces of curry, but it's a very subtle curry-type blend - not the strong smells that I associate with Indian food.

 

I have no idea what I'm smelling, but it's different and it works on me. Not to mention that it's keeping my subconscious busy trying to dissect it!

[grrrlennyl]

at first: a dark, almost tart, scent.

on: lots of vetiver, along with other dark notes.

1.5 hours later: lots of sweet mimosa with a nice, dark base.

3 hours later: a lovely, sweet mimosa. wonderful.

5 hours later: a musky scent with a hint of bright mimosa.

overall: i'm not sure about this one. i'm impressed by the strength of the mimosa. i'll have to try it again to be sure that it's for me.

[forspecial_plate]

This is quite a strange and unsettling scent. I smell the vetiver, dark and herbal, and also the sweetness of fruits, so sweet it's almost like candy. The sweet element of this scent nearly overpowers me in much the same way that Al Azif did. This is more bearable...when I tried that scent (Al Azif), I had to wash it off...but I gave this time to play out on my skin. Eventually some of the sweetness backed off, and the fruitiness became deeper and much nicer.

 

This never struck me as spicy. I think the vetiver and black musk did some weird combining thing that made me think of leather. This somehow fits right in with the other Arkham scents that I've tried....eerie, and not something that I feel drawn to wear, but interesting to try.

[Trish]

I'm finding this hard to review actually, because my nose was mighty confused when testing it! On one hand I love the dark resin spicy smokiness and the almost dust like quality. But there's something that turns sour on me in there too which I couldn't deal with. I'm assuming that's the tamarind, mimosa or ajowan as I'm not familiar with them whilst I love musk and opoponax, and don't have any problems with vetiver.

 

I think I might keep the imp around for a bit though, as it is definitely intriguing.

[Em-]

This is a very cacophonous scent, and appropriately so - the tamarind lends a definitely spicy fruitiness, the mimosa a splash of fruity floral, and then there are the deeps. The darks. Which never get as truly deep and dark as you might expect - vetiver and fruits are a winning combo with my chemistry and Erich Zahn is no exception.

 

This is a morpher - with dark notes and high notes and whirling dirvishes of scent. I like it. Quite a lot, actually, but it is quite a lot of work to get my senses around.

[Lexie]

I totally forgot I hate tamarind. And unfortunately this smells mostly tamarind on me. There is also some vetiver under the tamarind. I don’t know what have been thinking when I ordered this little imp, because I usually don’t like vetiver either... Probably I just wanted it because of the name!

 

When it dries the tamarind and the vetiver become a little less noticeable and I can smell the black musk too and maybe some mimosa on the background.

 

This is very unique blend, really something that the music of Erich Zahn could smell like. Too much tamarind and vetiver to my liking though.

[ouch!]

Wowzers! This was a surprise and a half.

 

This was a frimp from the lab and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's like an even better even sexier version of Titus Andronicus (which I also adore).

 

It's very musky and spicy and complex, but it has a lovely sweetness to it that just makes it yum!

I'll defiantely get a bottle of this one.

 

It just really reminds me of Titus Andronicus.....BUT BETTER!

[steffanina]

The Music of Erich Zahn-

 

In Bottle: That bone-dry, cruel scent of vetiver.

 

Wet: Yup, vetiver. I like vetiver plain to sniff, and I like vetiver in many blends on me, but I'm not sure if this will be a good blend on me.

 

Dry: This remains that really, really dry vetiver and there's a bit of cloying something here, resin-like. It might be the musk. The cloy of it puts me off.

 

Overall: Not for me.

[voodoobaby]

In the bottle: Black musk and...some kind of sharp, ginger-like spice. Hmm. Not sure I have much to say about this.

 

Wearing: Uh. Eh. Something about this reminds me of Schwarzer Mond, and how it went straight to the burning tires scent on me. I don't think it's the opoponax, because most blends with that note in it work on me. I think maybe it's the mixture of the musk and the tamarind. It's a very powdery-yet-deep, bittersweet scent...with tires burning in the middle of it. Ugh. Other than what I've mentioned above (even then...) I can't pick out any notes specifically. All I know is that this is NOT working with my chemistry. I suspect it would be lovely on the right person, so away it goes.

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Vetiver and a light edge of musk

 

Wet on me – Wood and vetiver, but tempered by an almost Snake Oil like sweetness and a light citrus touch

 

Dry on me – Sweet and rich and deep, presumably the opoponax, but I would have said vanilla

 

Overall – I like this a lot, I will have to give it a few more trials to ensure that it’s not flukey hormones, but this could be a bottle purchase

[QueenFae]

First impressions: dark, earthy,resinous, a bit powdery, masculine.

 

This is a deep, dark, evil smelling resin blend. It is very manly, and there is something in the background that smells a bit burnt. The undertones are sweet and go quite powdery on me. This clings close to my skin, but is very long lasting.

 

Not quite my kind of thing.

[beachbabealways]

This smells like sweet pencil shavings. Not getting the curry like others. It's a nice scent, very different.

[ziggystardust]

When I first opened the imp, I thought, "Holy cow, it's mansweat." - I noticed a little bit of vetiver, and a whole lot of tamarind. I gave it this, though - as a concept scent, I found it perfect from the get-go.

 

Wet: To my surprise, I did not smell like an octogenarian's gym bag - I got the pencil shavings beachbabealways mentioned. I felt like I was hanging out with Anne Bonny's morose twin brother. In fact, I think I may like it just a little bit more.

 

Dry: The pencil shavings are fading a bit, and seem to be acting as an anchor to something bitterly herbal and fruity. I'm getting none of the sweetness yet, but we'll see how it goes over the next few hours.

 

I wasn't expecting to like this scent as much as I do - I got it solely because I like the story. I don't know that I'll be buying a bottle, but unless it morphs on me in a bad way, I'll definitely be open to a replacement imp or two in a future swap.

[YoakeNoKami]

Cough. This isn't necessarily a ..bad… smell to me, but it's rather heavy ink-and-parchement and mad composition to me--like a musty kind of damp library--the piano covered in parchment in the corner and the composer slumped over it. At first whiff, it doesn't bug me, but it's not my own preciousss… that honor will have to do for someone else.

[SarahScent44]

In the imp, this is minty (that's the vetiver) but also warm - still being a newbie, and dealing with some unfamiliar notes, I don't know quite what to attribute this to.

 

When I put it on, it gets very strong, with a definite chemical tang to it. There's still a minty-ness to it, but there's also something slightly "off", almost smoky or rotten.

 

I let this dry (hope springing eternal), but no luck - I can't quantify what I don't like, but it's very bizarre. I'll definitely be passing this along.

[Dinerdulcinea]

Got this to try on hubby---didn't work out. Has a nasty note that reminds me of Agnes Nutter. Blech! I think it is cumin. It smells sweaty and dirty on hubby in this blend.