Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Symphonic Holocaust

This phenomenal 1998 album was the result of members of Swedish neo-prog bands, Anekdoten and Landberk coming together to pay respects to the great soundtracks of horror and exploitation cinema of the '60s and '70s. Symphonic Holocaust by Morte Macabre contains mostly very loyal covers from such classics as Rosemary's Baby, City Of The Living Dead, The Beyond, and Cannibal Holocaust, and culminates in the sprawling original composition bearing the album's title. Brilliantly executed and slathered in mellotron, this will appeal to anyone interested in dark and evocative music or film score.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mellotron is not to be taken lightly. My curiosity is piqued now. We'll see how it stacks up against Lalo Schifrin.

harry lime said...

wonderful album that gets regular spins in my stereo . shame they only did this one . their original bands(anekdoten) never really did it for me though. bit like debut album king crimson giving a nod to argento and fulci movies - in one word : awesome

Anonymous said...

No doubt you are familiar with FANTOMAS' album - The Directors Cut, where (obviously) the reinterpretations of various film scores are a tad more of the almost industrial type.

Electorrr said...

Thanks. I have been told good things about Anekdoten and Landberk; look forward to hearing this.

The Mule said...

Tremendous album, and they've hinted that they're working on a sequel.

ben said...

sounds intriguing to say the least. looking forward to this....too bad this wasn't up during halloween week to pump out the windows.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure I will love this....

Rob said...

WOW. I'd never heard of this. I'm a big fan of Anekdoten and Landberk too. Thanks for this Aesop!
-R

DiNo said...

Brilliant album, I was able to buy one of the last vinyls @ an Anekdoten gig.

jabladav said...

Sorry. You asked me to burn the vinyl rip with the extra track. My bad. If you are new to the name Landberk, I strongly suggest you track down "Indian Summer".

Paul Von Aphid said...

maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
fantastic album!

the first track blow my fuckin' away - coz it was my fave theme from the "The City Of The Living Death".
german proto black band Evoked Doom used this track as well on their demo (straight rip it from the movie score).

Im always was hungry for movie soundtracks from 70\80s...
well, maybe you post also John Carpenter works? This man had always known how to do a really minimalistic, but really hit-driven stuff.

BTW, in the end of the first track everyone can hear sample from russian news broadcast... weird.

Anonymous said...

Excellent record (and good kept secret)
Not a big fan of Anekdoten either, but this is recommended stuff.

The first Spring album is the best mellotron-record ever for me.

Danny

Anonymous said...

Great, thank you! Just what I was looking for right now.

jabladav said...

larry lime-

please check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkee89yPPJ8

both Landberk and Anekdoten are great. Anekdoten recordings are not as good as their live stuff.

Doug said...

a dearly departed friend made me a copy of this that is so beat up and worn out now...i'm glad someone posted this. this is such good music.

Greg said...

WOW! You had me at 60's 70's exploitation soundtracks! Mellotron as well? Too much! THANKS!!!

ido said...

I will have to give this a listen considering how much I love gialli. Also, by any chance to you have a copy of Moriconne's score for Argento's "The Bird with the Crystal Plummage"? Haunting score.....

chris said...

I've never heard of this, and it looks right up my horror lovin' alley. Thanks Aesop.

... and RIP Paul Naschy!

jabladav said...

Paul Von- That radio sound is most likely from the guitar amps. You can hear the same thing on "Another Great Love Song" by Aesop's band and the first Sanctuary album. Still odd huh?

Ionas the Baron said...

Hmmm, spaghetti with Swedish meatballs. Might work...

Anthony said...

thnx ace! this is amazing!!