Richard Einhorn — Shock Waves OST
Shock Waves( aka Almost Human /Death Corps) appeared in 1977, and it featured two classic Horror actors Peter Cushing & John Carradine. It’s plot revolved around a group of tourists encountering aquatic Nazi zombies when they become shipwrecked- it was the first film to blend together the Nazi & zombies.
The soundtrack was composed & played by Richard Einhorn – a Us based soundtrack composer & classical music composer, who also composed the soundtracks for other 70’s/80’s horror films such as Don’t Go In The House, and The Prowler. Seemingly Shock Waves was his first ever soundtrack, and I must say it’s most effective & worthy bringing together eerier mood with more angular & noisy elements.
The reissue presents the original scores twenty two tracks, along with an eight unreleased track- so we get a total of twenty nine tracks, and a runtime of just thirty minutes. The releases tracks nicely move between bubbling ‘n’ throbbing eerier-ness, onto more sad & moodily melodic synth patterns. Through to blends jarring & angular electronics, noisy ‘n’ shirking electro bays, which are edged with occasional samples of seagulls, night time bird chatter, water & the sound of amassed Nazi chants. As you’d expect with a soundtrack there are repeated themes through-out the albums runtime, but really it’s fairly varied, and not too repetitive- so you can listen to this in one go & it works as well as a stand alone & cohesive release too.
The reissue is nicely presented in a full-colour clear jewel case, with a 12 page colour booklet which features five pages of new & informative liner notes about the film, its soundtrack, and it’s making. Plus good selection of stills from the film it’s self.
This is the first time this soundtrack has ever been commercial issued, and it features a remastering from the original tapes by Einhorn himself. Certainly this is one for those who enjoy horror-filled & retro electronics, and 70’s synth-based sound tracking.