Goblin — Beyond The Darkness

Beyond The Darkness is an anthology compilation that brings together some of the lessen known soundtrack work of this celebrated Italian prog/electronic rock project. The single disc release takes in selections from ten soundtracks - moving from the late 1970’s, up to the early 2000’s. And simply put it’s a very consistent collection, which shows both the projects ability to create moody yet memorable themes, and also  dart into a few different musical genres too.

The releases packaging follows on with the design & layout  of  Bella Casa’s 2012 Goblin six disc box set The Awakening. Its cover featuring a nice ‘n’ moody  black ground with blood red text, and a still from one of the featured soundtracks with a nervous woman holding a candle. The 12 page inlay booklet takes in a brief one page write-up about the bands forty year career,  full credits & plot write-ups of the ten films, movie stills & posters.

The disc opens up with two tracks from 1979’s Buio Omega(aka Beyond The Darkness)- which was one of the more celebrated films of Italian film hack Joe D'Amato, with it’s  necrophilia themes & gory/ sleazy content. The tracks featured here are the films main title theme, which features that classic Goblin sound mix of up-front bass guitar & pulsing/moody keyboard layers. And  a track called “Quite Drops”, which takes in ornate yet darkly tinged & slightly creepy solo piano work.

Next we have three tracks from 1977’s La via della droga(aka The Heroin Busters, or  Drug Street )- this was an Enzo G. Castellari directed movie that told of Italian policeman who goes undercover to break up an international heroin ring. The tracks move from bass heavy & flashy ELP like prog themes, onto vibe & bongo heavy mixers of funk & strutting Mediterranean flavoured guitar work.

Over the next nineteen tracks we move from rising acoustic guitar, subtle string simmer & melodic electric guitar solo lines  of "Both-Two"( from 1979’s Amon Non Amo). On the felt yet slightly melancholic rolling piano melody meets smooth jazz  vibe of  “Helycopter” (from 1983’s Notturo). Through to churning guitar textures, stalking synth lines,  tick- tock rhythms, and moody bass-lines of "Arpeggio- End Titles" ( from 2001’s Non Ho Sonno).

So all in all Beyond The Darkness is a must have item for anyone who enjoys slightly prog bound instrumental music that has a chilling & dramatic edge to it, genreal soundtrack fans, and anyone who has even vaguely enjoyed Goblin’s soundtrack work.