VOTD 3/25/2024

 Goblin: Buio Omega (The Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (AMS)

Purchased used at The Attic

Another day, another Italian horror movie soundtrack. 

I've seen Goblin play three times, or at least Claudio Simonetti's Goblin. Once playing live to the film Deep Red, once to Suspiria, and a third time a general program of their works. Just who and what constitutes the band Goblin depends on the time and place I suppose. The fracturing of this band would almost rival Yes at times, and I think there might have been more than one version of the band active once. The band names include those mentioned above, New Goblin, Goblin Rebirth, Back to the Goblin (yuck), Goblin Keys, and Daemonia. One can only imagine the legal meetings. 

The band I've seen puts Claudio front and center, with three other players who probably hadn't been born before the release of Suspiria. In their multimedia show, there's no mention of who is responsible for composing the works. I always assumed he was the primary composer, especially considering he created more soundtracks under his own name after leaving the original Goblin. But now I'm not so certain, but I'm not going to take the time to exhaustively look for composing credits on Goblin albums (if they even are listed). In part because, well, it just doesn't matter that much.

Something that interests me in these soundtracks is how they stand up to listening independent of the cinematic experience. (I'm sure I've written that on this blog before. With as many posts as I've made, I'm forgetting what I wrote each time.) Suspiria and Goblin's original music to Dawn of the Dead  both work outside the movie in addition to intensifying the experience of watching the film. If anything, seeing the current Goblin play live to Suspiria, I had the feeling it was the first time the music was loud enough. 

Buio Omega is another Italian horror film I haven't seen. Goblin's name alone was enough for me to buy the LP. Notably, this was created after Sinonetti's departure from the band. Other titles, depending on release and country, include Beyond the Darkness, Demencia, Blue Holocaust, Buried Alive, In Quella Casa, and probably a few others. Unsurprisingly, the titles suggest or even match other horror and exploitation titles. 

There's a few nice and interesting cues on this soundtrack, but by itself it's a little on the bland side. It's definitely lacking the in-your-face quality of Suspiria and Deep Red. A few selections start to sound like Bruford-style jazz fusion, but lacking the extreme chops of that band. Another cue, "Bikini Island", takes on a disco flavor. Well, it was 1979, though disco proper had already crested about a year before. This is after all a film soundtrack, so maybe they didn't anticipate someone sitting and listening to this as I am now. 

It's all not-bad, fills in another gap in my knowledge about such works, but not terribly memorable.