Italian horror movies have often inspired the best music, no matter the genre.  Artists and composers such as Goblin and Ennio Morricone have all made names for themselves through this path.  The Italian horror movie influence has now made its way into the 21^st century, and the instrumental duo Zombi, who as you can tell, take their name from the European title of George A. Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” movie.  Their new album Escape Velocity takes those influences further with its own take on the score.

Zombi takes its cues from Italian record producer Girogio Moroder and Kraut Rock legends Neu and Harmonia.  Most people won’t know either one, but after listening to Escape Velocity, there is a chance that the listener will want to brush up on those two influences.  Since Zombi is instrumental, the bulk of its material has to rely on its music to build an atmosphere, and with a generous use of synthesizers to go along with the usual guitars, bass, and drums, it does just that.  Much of the album could easily find a home on an Italian horror movie like “Tenebre,” “Zombi 2,” or even the aforementioned “Dawn of the Dead.”  While the synthetic sound isn’t necessarily metal by the traditional definition, songs such as the title track and “Shrunken Heads” can be considered heavy in the sense that it sets an atmosphere that involves the listener with the music.  Those who aren’t familiar with any Italian horror movie made in the 70’s or 80’s will probably not find Escape Velocity to their liking, particularly since the album is heavy on the synthesizers and can be borderline cheesy, a trait that is familiar with many an Italian horror movie.  Even the album cover art screams Italian horror movie, with a surrealist look that could just as easily be on a subway poster in Europe promoting a movie.

Zombi has made a living with its own interpretation of instrumental horror soundtrack metal.  Certainly, their music would be good fits with some of the older Italian horror movies, but it would be just as comfortable with some of today’s horror movies, if today’s horror would allow for original scores as opposed to just getting random bands to play on the movie soundtrack.  Escape Velocity is an unusual album for the traditional metal music fan, but would be an ideal fit for the metal music fan who also happens to be into horror movies.

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Escape Velocity
2.  Slow Oscillations
3.  Shrunken Heads
4.  DE3
5.  Time of Troubles

Total playing time:  33:06

Release Date: May 10, 2011
Label: Relapse Records

Zombi - Escape Velocity

Reviewer: Peter

May 12, 2011