CD: Demons (1985)
Score: Very Good
Label: Rustblade
Released: 2015
Tracks / Album Length: 13 tracks / 45 mins.
Composer: Claudio Simonetti
Special Notes: Remastered soundtrack available in basic and multiple special edition CD & LP configurations. CD also includes two video clips.
Review:
Italy’s Rustblade Records brings Claudio Simonetti’s Demons back into circulation on CD and LP to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary and the longevity of the composer’s insanely catchy title theme. The sampled and processed ‘D-D-D-Dehmonz’ vocals adds another layer of rhythm to the cue’s existing bass hits and guitar licks, and Simonetti also integrates a wry quotation from Grieg’s deliciously malevolent Peer Gynt.
Equally effective is the Killing, which acts as a motor during the more gory sequences with an assaultive bass pulse for the flesh-hungry hybrids and thick, plaintive synths for the doomed cinemagoers.
Simonetti’s themes upgrade a mass slaughter into a danceable celebration of flesh-munching, and Rustblade’s mastering of the original score (about 17 mins.) is impeccable, as are the bonus tracks of unreleased, demo, and subsequent album and live versions of the Demons theme (28 mins.), but the neatest surprise is a sleek lounge version that’s instrumentally a precursor to The Card Player, featuring great keyboard solos, cool tones, and Afro-jazz vocals!
Rustblade’s remaster includes the above basic CD release, a limited tin that adds a second CD with 9 remixes by contemporary artists, and a limited vinyl release.
A podcast interview with composer Claudio Simonetti is also available.
© 2015 Mark R. Hasan. This review originally appeared in the June 2015 issue of Rue Morgue magazine.
Additional Links:
Editor’s Blog — Composer on IMDB — Composer Filmography — Soundtrack Album — Film Review
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