Day of the Dead: Goblin and Argento’s Horror Cinema

It is difficult to separate the Italian progressive rock band Goblin from the cinema of Dario Argento. The collaboration between the director and the core members of the band (Simonetti, Morante, Pignatelli, and Marangolo) spawned several decades of prog-inspired horror themes that became as defining as the films themselves. Having recently watched La Terza Madre (one of Argento’s most bizarre and nonsensical films), I thought it would be pertinent to dedicate a post to the music Goblin and Simonetti wrote for Argento between 1976 and 2007.

I arbitrarily chose the soundtracks for the films Suspiria, Tenebre, Non Ho Sonno and La Terza Madre. The scores for those films effectively illustrate the changes in the ways with which Simonetti, Morante, Pignatelli, and Marangolo collaborated with Argento. The four soundtracks also provide a fairly good overview of how Goblin’s sound evolved during the above time period.

SUSPIRIA

In 1977, Goblin recorded its third album and second soundtrack. The band had worked on Profondo Rosso with Argento two years earlier and the experience had been a rewarding one. But it is with Suspiria that Goblin clearly set itself apart. The album is both haunting and mesmerizing with its repetitive patterns, crashing percussions, and sinister whispers. It is true that the second half of the record includes some minor digressions (aka jazz fusion explorations), but the songs that make up Suspiria hold together nonetheless. This a remarkable soundtrack.
SUSPIRIA

TENEBRE

Tenebre presents a partial incarnation of Goblin since only Simonetti, Pignatelli and Morante took part in the project. The band had broken up in the late seventies but this did not prevent Argento from securing the collaboration of some of the original members for his new film. Drummer Marangolo did not participate in the 1982 soundtrack. Tenebre is therefore a synth-driven album where drum machines and other turn-of-the-decade instruments make up the fabric of the songs. Gialloesque disco-prog at its best!
FLASHING

NON HO SUNNO

At the end of the millennium, Goblin reformed to record yet another set of songs for Argento. The result is far from exciting although it constitutes an honest attempt from Goblin to continue building on its own legacy. The greater part of the soundtrack for Non Ho Sunno blends seventies progressive rock with gothic metal elements. I find the second half of the album stronger, thanks to Goblin’s trademark synth melodies as well as the predominance of somber and eerie pieces. This is an album you might appreciate if you do not have an aversion to metal-oriented scores.
ASSOCIATED DEAD

LA TERZA MADRE

The Mother of Tears was released a couple of years ago bringing to a close the “Three Mothers Trilogy” initiated with Suspiria in 1977. For this last chapter, Simonetti was hired to compose and develop music material. The former Goblin member solicited the help of his new bandmates (Daemonia) as well as Cradle of Filth singer Daniel Lloyd Davey for the closing song of the film. This is obviously a step further in the direction of gothic and ambient black metal music although Simonetti’s signature sound and textures are still apparent.  Give it a try but be prepared to hear a cinematic music that has lost some of its edge and originality.
BAD WITCH

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