With the announcement of Melbourne Music Week's first few acts came the mind blowing news that has Italian horror film and '70s prog rock fans losing their respsective shits; GOBLIN ARE COMING!!!!!
For those of you who have no freakin' idea who Goblin are (and that's totally fine, they're awesome but pretty obscure), we'll give you a quick rundown so you too can nerd out and have the chance to be just as pumped as we are.
Back in the mid '70s, legendary Giallo (a hyper-stylised sub-genre of Italian horror cinema) director Dario Argento was busy working on his opus,
Deep Red AKA
Profondo Rosso, when he had a falling out with composer Georgio Gaslini. Argento hired fledgling prog rock band Cherry Seven to jump on board and take the aural reigns. Changing their name to Goblin to help differentiate themselves from their work on their previous LP, the band went on to rewrite the majority of the score along with the film's famous main theme.
Deep Red and its soundtrack went on to smash Italy's Hit Parade, spending 52 weeks in the charts and ranking first in both the singles and LP categories. Goblin went on to enjoy some pretty decent success with their signature soundscapes and funk infused prog space-rock sound favoured by Argento and featured in a bunch of other euro films. Unfortunately the band split in 1978 after finishing the soundtrack to the European version of George A Romero's zombie classic
Dawn of the Dead and subsequently lost a lot of their momentum and success they once had.
However, they remain legendary in their role as soundsmiths for a period in European horror cinema that will always be revered by those who love it, and to know they're bringing their italo awesomeness to Melbourne is truly exciting.
So, there you have it - Goblin in a nutshell. To help you guys jump on the italo prog rock bandwagon with us, we've selected a handful of Goblin's best work along with a clip of them performing the
Tenebrae theme track which, if you're a fan of Justice's first album, will no doubt recognise where they got the idea for 'Phantom Part 1' and 'Phantom Part 2'
For more info on their shows and Melbourne Music Week head to blog.melbmusic.com
1. Susperia - Dario Argento
2. Phenomena - Dario Argento
3. Tenebrae - Dario Argento
4. Profondo Rosso - Dario Argento
5. Dawn of the Dead - George A Romero
6. Contamination - Luigi Cozzi
7. Goblin live in Rome performing Tenebrae
8. 'Phantom Part 1 and 2' - Justice