header_image
CARPENTER, JOHN  Halloween OST  2 x LP   (Mondo)   36.98
Halloween OST IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR ORDER

��Back in stock. What could I possibly add to the reams that have already been written about Carpenter's legendary score to his equally legendary 1979 film Halloween? It might be the penultimate modern horror score. The impact and influence that Carpenter's Halloween score had on the field of horror filmdom is still felt today, twenty five years later. It's a masterpiece of minimalist composition, with the ability to create a palpable sense of dread through the use of just a few carefully placed notes. Carpenter's use of a simple piano figure alongside the searing distorted tones of his electronic synthesizers was inspired, and the influence of this soundtrack could be seen rippling across the fields of soundtrack composition, electronic music and even industrial music in the decades that followed; you can see the influence of Halloween is still being felt just as strongly today with the appearance of bands like Gatekeeper, Umberto and Antoni Maiovvi, and in large swathes of the burgeoning synthwave scene.

�� This latest reissue of Carpenter's score is probably the most definitive version I've seen, newly re-mastered for vinyl by none other than James Plotkin (Khanate / Khlyst / OLD) and beautifully presented in a thick gatefold package designed by Phantom City Creative that features some really cool original artwork. This new vinyl edition of Halloween features the most comprehensive version of Carpenter's score ever released on vinyl, spread across two 180 gram black vinyl records, the recording cut to vinyl at 45 rpm for maximum sound quality. And man, the sound is great, even on my shoddy little turntable setup here in the C-Blast office. Opening, of course, with Carpenter's iconic main theme, the soundtrack unfolds across the extensive twenty-eight track score that appears to include every musical cue, every sting, every interlude, with key pieces of dialogue and foley work also included in the soundtrack. The music is, of course, a masterwork of minimal piano and primitive (but wholly effective) synthesizer drones, woven into endless nightmarish ambience that evolves throughout the course of the film from an atmosphere of early autumnal ambience and eerie foreboding into its later symphony of abject dread and pulse-pounding synth. Every jet-black permutation of the main theme is rendered here in all its glory, the sound rich and revealing, the atmosphere oozing with inescapable menace, joined by other mood-setting pieces like "The Shape Stalks" and "Laurie's Theme". Still an essential part of any serious horror movie soundtrack fan's collection.