On August 5, Bloody Hammers will be releasing their third full-length album, Lovely Sort of Death. The band’s gothic darkwave is cinematic, and it should come as no surprise that the band’s singer, guitarist and bassist Anders Manga, is a fan of instrumental music. We asked him to count down his five favorite soundtracks from horror movies. Lovely Sort of Death can be preordered here.
As a soundtrack aficionado and collector, narrowing down to 5 is pretty damn hard. There are so many awesome and iconic stand-alone themes, but here I’m going to focus on my favorite full albums. The ones that rule, in my opinion from beginning to end.
5) The House by the Cemetery (1981)
After working with composer Fabio Frizzi on a string of legendary films, Lucio Fulci chose somewhat of a newcomer, Walter Rizzati for his suspenseful horror masterpiece, ‘The House by the Cemetery’. For a guy who was previously known for scoring sex comedies, here he delivers a creepy gothic score worthy of comparison to Frizzi or Goblin. One of my favorite tracks, “I Remember” is quite reminiscent of Alice Cooper’s “Steven” that came 6 years earlier, but that’s OK with me. The album as a whole has a great atmosphere and is an unsung classic.
4) Inferno (1980)
Keyboard hero Keith Emerson’s (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Nice) first effort into the world of film soundtracks was for master of horror, Dario Argento’s ‘Inferno’. I love this album because it’s so varied. The main title theme is a beautiful track and worthy of the price of this album alone. “Mater Tenebrarum” is an amazing haunting rocker, “A Cat Attic Attack” is deliciously creepy, “Taxi Ride” is prog madness… this album is all over the place and just the way I like ’em!
3) Zombi/Dawn of the Dead (1978)
I’m not going to pretend like I know the whole story, but from what I understand, the original ‘Dawn of the Dead’ USA release featured pre-recorded library music selected by George Romero. However, when Dario Argento struck a deal with Romero to release the movie in Europe, he called on his go-to score masters, Goblin to record new music for it. If I’m wrong or a little off on this, let me know in the comments. Whatever happened, it happened for the best. This is definitely one of my top soundtracks. I have the Italian version from Cinevox so I’m not sure the names of the songs on the USA versions but I assume the songs are the same. Get it!
2) Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
I love pretty much all Popol Vuh albums, but this is my favorite. Last year two labels, Waxworks and Wah Wah re-released this legendary soundtrack to Werner Herzog’s tribute to the classic Murnau film. I bought them both but lean towards the Wah Wah version because the biography insert and the original artwork. I feel more nostalgia with original covers but still admire new artwork. Anyway, all the fangs aligned when Florian Fricke wrote this ethereal gem. It was nominated for an Oscar for ‘Best Original Score’ in 1979 but don’t hold that against it.
1) The Beyond (1981)
‘The Beyond’ is definitely the high point of the Lucio Fulci / Fabio Frizzi creative team. The creepy piano motifs! the mighty mellotron! the big choruses! I have been spinning this record for years and years and never get burned out on it. At least seek out ‘Voci Dal Nulla’ and ‘Verso L’Ignoio’.
If you’re into classic soundtracks, please also check out my classic soundtrack tribute album “Hexed [Pseudo Motion Picture Soundtrack]” free on bandcamp https://andersmanga.bandcamp.com/album/hexed-pseudo-motion-picture-soundtrack
