Music

[Review] Opera Diabolicus ‘†1614’

Published

12 years ago

January 26, 2012

Opera Diabolicus is the brainchild project of composer David Grimoire and lyricist Adrian de Crow. After meeting at a stage production of Umberto Eco’s In The Name Of The Rose [Ed. Note: Fantastic book as well as a great movie!], the two joined forces under the name Opera Diabolicus to bring about a musical project that combined the darker elements of music with the grandeur and spectacle of theatre. Now, their debut album, †1614, is about to arrive. But does it provide the spectacle that was promised or does this production fall flat?

Starting with Overture, the album begins with an eerie piano melody while, lurking in the background, are complementary strings. Then comes in rumbling percussion and the horns followed by a devilish choir. This all leads into The Gateway, a ten-minute opus complete with huge, distorted guitars and sweeping symphonic passages.

From a production standpoint, the album offers a great deal to listen for. On top of a full metal band, there are multiple vocalists, a symphony, and various other textures and background effects. Mixed with an almost old-school feel, the album has a very natural feel to it.

Featuring guest appearances from Snowy Shaw (King Diamond, Dimmu Borgir), Mats Leven (Therion), Niklas Isfeldt (Dream Evil), Jake E (Amaranthe), and Camilla Alisander-Ason (who provides a wide variety of voices), this album has a wide cast of characters to keep listener interest piqued.

This is an album that will appeal to fans of Cradle Of Filth as well as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom Of The Opera. A perfect example of this marriage is Blood Countess Bathory, which tells the infamous tale of Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed, who supposedly slaughtered countless young girls and bathed in their blood, all in order to maintain a youthful appearance.

The Final Word: Opera Diabolicus’s †1614 delivers exactly what it promises: a macabre, gothic metal album with a rabid taste for the theatrical. If this is your kind of music, expect this to become one of your favorites.

JonathanBarkan

Managing editor/music guy/social media fella of Bloody-Disgusting

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Music

“He Walks By Night” – Listen to a Brand New John Carpenter Song NOW!

Published

1 week ago

April 9, 2024

John Squires

It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.

Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.

Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.

“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.

“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”

You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…