Sonic Scares: Fabio Frizzi’s “City of the Living Dead”
Cover art for Death Waltz’s vinyl release. Art by Graham Humphreys.
I can’t remember a time when film music — particularly horror film music — wasn’t meaningful to me. The first score I vividly recall is James Horner’s work in Aliens. That marching snare and metallic percussion, those blaring horns and stirring strings. Goddamn. To me, music is half the horror film experience, which is why my discussions of a movie often include at least some mention of its score or soundtrack. But I grew up on American horror, the music of which generally stayed within the traditional orchestral repertoire. It wasn’t until my late teens that I began discovering European horror and really absorbing its more synthesizer- and rock-based sonic palette. Then I came across the Italians, specifically Goblin and Fabio Frizzi.
Although it took me a while to fully understand Lucio Fulci’s filmmaking brilliance, I was immediately drawn in by the gore-laced jams Frizzi was laying down, which were completely unlike anything I had heard before in a movie. It wasn’t the full-fledged assault of horns, strings, and winds that, while effective in context, didn’t necessarily stick to your ear drums after the credits rolled. Fabio was here writing straight up riffs, hooks to draw blood with beats to keep it flowing. The first score of his I heard was his wonderful work on Fulci’s City of the Living Dead (aka The Gates of Hell), from 1980.
Back when I first heard it, in the late 1990s, vinyl was still dormant, with no Waxwork, Death Waltz, or One Way Static yet on the horizon, and no one had much interest in putting any of these albums on CD. The only way I could listen to Frizzi’s music on its own was via a surprisingly robust network of blogs that offered illegal downloads of hundreds of horror movie scores, like the tape-trading days of the early black/death metal and punk scenes. While I don’t condone pirating creative work, this network, at the time, functioned as an ear-opening new vista for an impressionable musician and horror fanatic like me. I was able to sample music from so many great composers whose work was buried in films that had very little stateside distribution, much less any standalone exposure. However, I’m very thankful for the current state of things, in which nearly every horror film, and its score, has found a Blu-ray and vinyl or CD release, respectively.
But that initial contact with Frizzi’s work was honestly life-altering. From the moment the “Introduzione” cue sneaks in, and those heavy piano slams hit you, accompanied by kick drum, snare, swirling synth, and Frizzi’s signature warbling Mellotron, you know you’re in for something special. Over the course of the film, there are surprisingly funky bass grooves, intermingled electric and acoustic guitar melodies, choirs, and noise ambience, along with the occasional strings and wind instruments. But Frizzi’s sound is stripped down as if played by a live band, leaving a guitar or keyboard to carry a single melody that’s occasionally complemented but never convoluted, still standing distinct and utterly memorable, with a roiling back beat from the drums and bass. There are also verses, choruses, and bridges, to a degree, emphasizing a hook-based sound unique among film soundtracks. His eerie tracks sound like hell’s minions jamming as the apocalypse unfolds.
While I’ve since discovered so much more amazing Euro-horror music, including much of Frizzi’s discography and other brilliant artists like Riz Ortolani, Bruno Nicolai, Nico Fidenco, and Carlo Mario Cordio, the score for City of the Living Dead is still my one of my favorites. Catch me on the right day, and it might be my number one (most of the time, it’s vying for that position with Frizzi’s gorgeous work on Fulci’s The Beyond). It’s an astonishing thing, rich with atmosphere, mystery, and chills, but laced with beauty and unmatched artistry.