Not too often that I pick up a soundtrack to a horror film that I haven't actually seen yet, but alas, despite my best efforts, I've thus far failed to get a hold of the surrealistic horror films of director Juraj Herz, who worked under Communist oppression as part of the Czech New Wave in the 1960s. Herz produced a handful of subversive horror fantasies that were marked by heavy allegorical and avant-garde leanings, all of which have been touted as must-sees by horror film scholars, but up till now many of his films have largely been unavailable here in the US. While those films remain on my to-see list, I had recently stumbled across this amazing collection of Herz soundtracks that was released by the Finders Keepers sub-label B-Sides (which has also issued some classy-looking Jean Rollin soundtracks that I'm seriously itching to get my mitts on), and after hearing this beautiful, utterly chilling music, I'm more eager than ever to finally see Herz's psychedelic horrors. The disc features the scores to both 1968's Spalovač mrtvol (The Cremator) scored by avant-garde composer (and frequent Jan Svankmajer collaborator) Zdeněk Liska, and 1972's Morgiana, scored by Hlobil protege Lubos Fiser.

Lubos Fiser's score to Herz's Gothic drama of murderous sibling rivalry Morgiana is gorgeous stuff, filled with blasts of fearsome pipe organ, lovely folk-flecked instrumental arrangements for harpsichord, treated piano, and acoustic guitar and flute, the latter of which is often used to chilling effect throughout the score. Lush orchestral strings mingle with lyrical woodwinds, whose melodies ache with sadness and desire, the music shaping into eerie ballroom waltzes, all contributing to a dreamlike atmosphere that hovers between a kind of pastoral beauty and moments of jarring sonic violence. The latter appears in the form of sudden swells of dissonant strings a la Bernard Herrmann, tracks like "Viktorie's Darkest Moment" possessed with a fitful creepiness. The latter half of the score sees Fiser employing more brass fanfares, deep lowing horns and muffled, experimental percussion techniques to terrifying effect, especially on the malevolent death-march of Morgiana's main theme. The whole score is emotionally complex, combining elements of classical, folk, jazz and experimental technique in a manner not too far removed from some of Komeda's work for Polanski; darkly beautiful stuff that fans of Fiser's score for Valerie and Her Week of Wonders will definitely want to check out.

That's followed by Zdenek Liska's music for The Cremator, which uses a much more experimental and textured approach in order to accompany Herz's surreal, blackly humorous Holocaust-themed nightmare. Murky choral voices are blurred into a dim fog over the droning orchestral elements for the opening piece "Merciful Nature", and the chilling atmosphere sets in right from the beginning; as the score unfolds, Liska moves through gorgeous waltz-like orchestrations, mixing together violins, ghostly percussion and what sound like flugelhorns, employing operatic voices and pensive piano work to help craft the dreamlike vibe. Some of the choral passages have an almost Popul Vuh-esque feel, ominous and intensely atmospheric sounds that shift into something wholly nightmarish and surreal, reminiscent of some of the darker strains of krautrock (especially on tracks like the deeply creepy "Kopfrkingl Salutes Death" and "Vision Of The Temple"), the mood of the score growing ever darker and more unsettling, even as it slips into the haunting sound of a cantor singing a Jewish prayer.

Can't recommend this disc enough to fans of the darker side of the Czech New Wave and Euro horror soundtrack obscurities. B-Music's beautifully rendered collection also features liner notes from label boss (and Liars member) Andy Votel and Eurocult scholar Daniel Bird in the twenty-page booklet that accompanies the disc.