Giallo-tastic
Ok, if you come to this site a lot, then you’ll know who the SC3 are. Needless to say, you may have also noticed the epic amount of coverage we do. This is because we are all pretty massive fans here at the site, so bear that in mind when reading this, a bit of a SC3 fan-boy, review.
source - http://collinpeterson.com/
From the offset, this is not a ‘normal’ SC3 album, at least not in the sense that we’ve become accustomed to of late. First up, it is only one of the countless ‘mini-bands’ that we normally see aggregated on a general release. This time round we are served up some ‘Traditionalists’, last seen on the excellent ‘Book of Horizons’ album. Secondly, even though this is a Traditionalists-only release, it’s not really typical in the sense that it’s both cinematic and ‘incidental’ in its composition.
The theme of this record, Italian ‘Giallo’ horror, works really well with Trey Spruances compositional style. To boot, the ‘Gialloness’ of this record is perfect! you really do feel like you should have just watched Suspiria, or been to see Goblin in concert!
The 30 tracks on the album are perfectly balanced between 70’s soundtrack musings, and epic-in-scale ochestral arrangements. Spruance also doesn’t forget to include lashings of Moog and vintage synth interludes that really add some realistic depth to the concept of the album.
Upon reflection, this release, in a way, takes you back to the pilot Secret Chiefs 3 full length, ‘First grand Constitution and Bylaws’. The album leaps around the different styles found in Giallo in bite size chunks. This is great, but it makes you really crave longer versions of each song.
All in all, this is an excellent new offering from the Chiefs. The last record recorded for Tzadik, though really good, left me wanting a more ‘SC3centric’ record, and this certainly does the job! Anyway, i’m off to watch ‘Demons‘.
Ken Eakins
If you’re in Europe you can go check the Chiefs right now:
29 June • PO • LISBON @ Santiago Alquimista
30 June • ES • MADRID @ La Boîte
01 July • ES • BARCELONA @ Centre Artesà Tradicionarius (playing MASADA)
02 July • CH • GENEVE @ L Usine
03 July • FR • LYON @ Grrnd Zero
04 July • FR • CERGY-PONTOISE @ Base des Loisirs (Festival FURIA SOUND)
05 July • DE • FRANKFURT-MAIN @ Nachtleben
06 July • CH • DUDINGEN @ Bad Bonn
07 July • CH • LUZERN @ Sedel
08 July • CH • SIEGEN-WEIDENAU @ Vortex
09 July • NL • ROTTERDAM @ Worm
10 July • DE • HAMBURG @ Hafenklang
11 July • NL • ROTTERDAM @ Yukon (Festival NORTH SEE JAZZ)
12 July • FR • MONTMARTIN-SUR-MER @ Scene Mer (Festival CHAUFFER LA NOIRCEUR)
