Here's the new 2014 repress of this classic slasher soundtrack, issued by Death Waltz on clear vinyl and packaged with a new obi insert.

Finally have several of the recent releases from Death Waltz in stock here at C-Blast; this new boutique label from the UK has been putting stuff out for over a year now, but just about everything they have done has quickly sold out. It's one of the coolest new imprints out there, a vinyl-only operation that is curating a fantastic selection of cult horror / exploitation film soundtracks from the 1970s-1980s "golden age" of electronic film scores, with a couple of high quality newer works appearing every now and then as well. With a signature sleeve design aesthetic, a killer logo and impeccable taste in the best in cinematic electronic darkness, every single one of Death Waltz's releases are amazing collectors items for fans of classic horror sounds.

One of the more recent entries into Death Waltz's reissue campaign is this new vinyl edition of John Carpenter and Alan Howarth's OST for the follow-up to Carpenter's iconic 1978 film. For the sequel, Carpenter kept the haunting signature Halloween theme but switched it from piano to synthesizer for this score, giving the soundtrack a sharper, more menacing edge. The opening track is the "Halloween II Theme", a harder, more synth-drenched version that signature melody, fusing it with washes of almost Tangerine Dream-like choral drift. The haunting "Laurie's Theme" is likewise updated for the new score, those familiar harpsichord-like chords turned into something more dissonant and unsettling. The rest of Halloween II's score continues to combine most of those key themes from the first film with that mix of newer synthesizer sounds and production techniques; where the first film's score was actually pretty minimal and spare, here Carpenter and Howarth blend in growling distorted synth drones, lush electronic piano, with ventures into the pounding death-march electronica of "Laurie And Jimmy" and the deep rumbling drones, blood-freezing chimes and pounding kettledrums that appear in "The Shape Enters Laurie's Room". The dread-filled tympani and sequenced electronics of "The Shape Stalks Again" make for one of the score's most doom-laden sequences, but then the fim closes with the only piece of non-original music, the old Chordettes hit "Mr. Sandman" that plays out over the end credits.

Absolutely recommended to anyone into classic slasher soundtracks, the retro terror-electronics of Gatekeeper and Umberto, and the creepiest fringes of early synth-based industrial and electronic music; despite it's minimalism, the Halloween II score is still manages to incite dread even when divorced from the blood-stained imagery of the film.

Like everything else on Death Waltz, this record is beautifully presented in a jacket that features new artwork from Brandon Schaefer as well as a large foldout poster with the same image in larger form, along with liner notes from Schaefer and Alan Howarth.