Search - Various Artists :: Vampire Themes

Curiouser and curiouser

Odilon | Oak Park, IL USA | 08/09/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a puzzling but fairly good album that requires appreciation of a variety of musical styles. There is solid Gothic rock and eerie instrumentals of various types, even including some classical music. The selections are all from vampire films (or TV shows) or inspired by them. None of these, tho, seem to be from the actual soundtracks. Even the Bauhaus classic "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is a live version not the studio version used (as I recall) in THE HUNGER. There is also a cover (by The Electric Hellfire Club) of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" included because it was the closing music for INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. (But that film used a cover by Guns n' Roses so the selection here can, I guess, be considered a cover of a cover.) The music from FOREVER KNIGHT is here with LaCroix's chilling opening narrative ("He was brought across in 1228...") but IT'S NOT NIGEL BENNET SPEAKING! That last seems like heresy and is epecially disappointing but apparently the selections are meant as original tributes to the productions and soundtracks which inspired them- a sampling of new interpretations of music which the vampire legend has generated. Still, there are many good selections. I suspect different people may like very different things here. I especially enjoyed Electric Hellfire's "Sympathy" (creepy treated vocal, driving rhythm and no "woo-oo woo"), The Damned's "Testify" and Nosferatu's "Graveyard Shift". Big Electric Cat's cover of "Cat People" was OK but didn't seem to add much new. (And technically CAT PEOPLE isn't a vampire movie, remember?) The instrumentals seemed very atmospheric but, for me, tended to blend together- lots of low strings, for example, and Tangerine Dream effects."

So So

Sarah M. Ptaschek | Reno, Nevada | 12/09/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Vampire Themes represents many wonderful artists. Taken individually the songs are mostly fair-good renditions and attempts. Listening to the album start to finish, however, is a headache experience. The low point for me was the version of Sympathy For The Devil; annoying and grating to the ear. The album isn't nesessarily that bad, but I think it had more promise than quality."

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kerberos | 05/01/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nice collection fit for vampyre or horror movie fans, the vampyre and eerie atmosphere is strong."