This second release from the prestigious italian label Spikerot Records takes us back in time and more precisely to the distant 1957, the year of the release of The Vampires, Riccardo Freda's film considered the first Italian horror film. After the release of Choice Cuts from Philosophy of a Knife with music by Andrey Iskanov and Alexander Shevchenko, so this time it is the turn of Maestro Roman Vlad, author of the unforgettable soundtrack to Freda's cult film in which, we recall, Mario Bava took on the role of Director of Photography.
Purchase the soundtrack to The Vampires on Spikerot Records.
Of Romanian descent, composer and musicologist Roman Vlad (1919-2013) obtained Italian citizenship at age 32 after composing a dozen soundtracks for our cinema. His forays into the horror genre were targeted and exclusively for Riccardo Freda's films. In addition to The Vampires, Vlad in fact composed the music for Caltiki the immortal monster and for The Horrible Dr. Hichcock.
Roman Vlad's musical expressionism amalgamates with Freda's film to give it a distinctly mournful, unhealthy aura in which mystery and terror become pivotal elements. The Maestro's slow symphonies creep through the sequences of the The Vampires transporting the listener between death knell bells and romantic piano melodies (played by Vlad himself, a notoriously accomplished pianist, among others) to give the work unforgettable funereal atmospheres.
Spikerot Records distributes, for the first time on vinyl, the majestic original soundtrack to the The Vampires with a prestigious 180-gram double LP 45 rpm edition enclosed in an absolutely fine gatefold hardback, thanks also to SoloMacello's sublime artwork that brings to mind the golden ages of Gothic.
The tracklist has 30 tracks, all with the same title but ordered sequentially i.e. all tracks from the original tapes, even those later edited or discarded by Roman Vlad's orchestra.
The entire soundtrack was mastered at Toxic Basement Studio.
The soundtrack of the The Vampires is currently on sale, starting Dec. 7, at the official Spikerot Records shop, with or without a bundled T-Shirt, in an incredible double edition in which the graphics imprinted on the vinyl records change:
- 400 pieces Limited edition "Castle Fog"
- 100 pieces Ultralimited edition "Eternal Life"
The Double LP Ultralimited Eternal Life + T-Shirt bundle is priced at 41.99 euros while the classic editions containing the double LP are priced at 29.99 euros.
