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Goblin Rebirth
Released by: Relapse Records
Released on: June 29th, 2015.
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Goblin Rebirth is made up of Fabio Pignatelli (bass, programming and keyboards), Agostino Marangolo (drums), Aidan Zammit (Keyboards, programming and vocoder), Danilo Cherni (keyboards and programming) and Giacomo Anselmi (electric and acoustic guitars, and bouzouki). Marangolo and Pignatelli are original members of Goblin, the other guys are new additions to the band that was formed in 2010 in an attempt to bring back the sound that Goblin, in its heyday, did so well. The album also features guest appearances by Arnaldo Vacca (percussion on Dark Bolero and Rebirth), Roberta Lombardini (vocals on Forest), Francesco Marini (cello on Dark Bolero).
Requiem For X starts things off calmly, quietly - it's like a mix of a Morricone spaghetti western track with tinges of something from Suspiria mixed in and it's pretty interesting. It builds nicely and as you approach the half way mark of the four minute plus track, it gets heavier and proggier and weirder. As it should. Back In 74 is maybe a bit less predictable if the first song plays a little to what people would probably expect from this album. At just short of four and a half minutes it starts off with the sound of gusting wind while the percussion gets right in there and lays down a pretty nice beat. The keyboards don't envelope you here the way they do on more typical Goblin fare, and this one is almost cheery in tone and mood, but at the same time kind of suspenseful sounding.
Book Of Skulls passes the six minute mark and it starts off with a thick, heavy bass line and some nice, almost freestyle drumming. The keyboards come in and it's fairly droney, while simultaneously channeling some Pink Floyd in spots? Yeah, it's there. It builds unexpectedly to a piano-heavy finale with some heavier guitar backing that up nicely. Mysterium has the most basic guitar intro that the drums build nicely off of. From there it mixes funk and disco and prog and horror movie atmosphere into a pretty awesome stew of weird sounds. Evil In The Machine is the only track on the album that has anything close to vocals on it - and it's not really vocals so much as it is a repetitive robotic voice saying 'Evil in the machine' and a few other weird phrases over and over again. The music behind it pulses and drives fairly straight ahead but the weird vocals catch you off guard.
Forest starts off slowly, quietly, with an organ over the sound of waves of some sort building to a crescendo around three minute mark. This one takes its time, it's very dream-like in how it plays out, it's calm and serene and even tranquil with another Gilmour style guitar solo in here towards the end of the song. Dark Bolero has a sort of jangle to it at first, those sound like acoustic guitars early on with some sort of string section (or synthesized version thereof) layering overtop. There's some choral chanting of some sort in the last half that takes what was calm and peaceful and gives it an ominous vibe. The last track on the album, Rebirth, is also the longest at just under eight minutes. There's a tribal sound to the beginning, some bongos laying down a primitive rhythm, and over that the band melds some Middle Eastern style sounds in amongst the trademark keyboards and synth sounds. It winds up a strange mix of world music, prog, jazz and the sort of weird soundtrack music that Goblin have become famous for and it's a great way to end the album.
This one takes a few listens to sink in. It's unlikely that you'll put this one and start jumping around and pumping your fist but give it a shot. Then give it another shot. By the time you're on your third attempt things start to grow on you and the fourth go round it becomes a little more obvious how interesting, creative and compelling this album really is.
