Full Moon Archive, Disc 1 Review
Listen up Deadites! Gruesome Joe here with the latest installment of the Musical Morgue, right here on Rotting Flesh Radio.
I’m changing things up this week by bringing you the first installment of a two-part series of reviews covering an album that I’m pretty sure you’re going to enjoy. Fans of the B-grade horror films of the 80′s and early 90′s are especially going to get a kick out of this one.
But before I tell you what album we’ve got, let’s see if you can guess where I’m headed with this little teaser…
(Full Moon Logo clip)
If you’re an aficionado of the Puppet Master series, or a purveyor of the Subspecies or Trancers series, or even a fan of Demonic Toys, Netherworld, Castle Freak, Blood Dolls, Killer Bong, the list goes on and on–then you already know what I’m talking about. We’re talking about the one and only Full Moon Features and their eclectic brand of horror cinema. The album up for review on the slab this week is Disc 1 of the Full Moon Archive Music Collection.
Now fans of Full Moon are really going to like this album. I pretty much grew up watching the Full Moon films with all their puppets, gore, and babes, so all of these tracks really brought a smile to my face. This is mainly because the entire first CD is chock full of some classic Full Moon title music tracks—everything from Puppet Master and Subspecies to Doctor Mordrid and Robot Wars. They did a really good job of compiling some of the best-known title tracks, both new and old, on to this one disc.
How better to start off the album than with Full Moon’s ominous and instantly recognizable logo track. This little piece brings back many happy memories of staying up too late to watch the movies I was told I wasn’t allowed to watch. Those were good times!
We then head into Full Moon’s most well known franchise–Puppet Master. This track, scored by the very talented Richard Band, has become synonymous with little dolls running around, slashing and drilling into people under the ever-watchful eye of Andre Toulon…
(Puppet Master clip)
We then head into two much more elaborate tracks—the first being from the werewolf film Meridian, the second being Stuart Gordon’s The Pit and the Pendulum. Both are absolutely classic Full Moon films with really great title tracks.
(Pit clip)
We then come to my favorite track on the album, and my favorite movie from the Full Moon collection, Subspecies. Fans of these epic vampire films will relish in the fact they can finally own a copy of this title track without having to rip it from the VHS themselves. The Aman Folk Orchestra perform this lovely piece and set the perfect stage for the vampire Radu Vladislas to terrorize the townsfolk and claim his fledgling…
(Subspecies clip)
We then have two more great tracks composed by Richard Band, the first being Puppet Master III and the second being Dollman. The Puppet Master III track has some nice nuances to the original Puppet Master score, with the addition of much more elaborate orchestrations, even utilizing some pretty cool vocals.
(Puppet Master III clip)
We then have the fantastically aged Trancers theme. I say “fantastically aged” because the use of all the synthesizers and the overall quality of the recording take me instantaneously back to 1985, in the best way possible.
(Trancers clip)
The next several tracks keep us in the nostalgic state of mind with the likes of Demonic Toys, Seed People, Bad Channels, and Doctor Mordrid. Fans of Full Moon will recognize the driving score from Seed People, as they seem to be using it for several of their trailers—especially for their Full Moon Road Show. Bad Channels is a pretty interesting one—not only because the film is absolutely insane, but because this track was penned and performed by the Blue Oyster Cult. And then the epic Doctor Mordrid theme takes everything up a notch with its powerful driving and magical score.
(Doctor Mordrid clip)
The styles then change with the next track, David Arkenstone’s Robot Wars. This track is a gloriously written piece, utilizing very dramatic orchestrations, all the while tying in the theme and style of the film. This track always struck me as being a bit too classy for the film. Some, though, could argue that that was in fact what made the film so special. Either way you look at it—it’s some really great music!
(Robot Wars clip)
The next several tracks all keep a very similar theme—the ambient sort of lofty orchestration stylistically encompassed in all Richard Band’s compositions. Mandroid, composed by both Richard Band and David Arkenstone, features a wide range of dramatic intensity, whereas Dollman Vs. Demonic Toys ties together the motifs of said films. Laser Blast is most definitely another blast from the past. Very much like Trancers, the aged synthesizer sound always makes me smile.
(Laser Blast clip)
The remaining tracks bring us to the present day Full Moon films. The first two tracks Doll Graveyard and Dead Mans Hand are by District 78, and offer a much newer and modern sound than the traditional Full Moon scores. These two epic tracks have an electronic feel, with lots of ambient underscoring to create the tone of the pieces. They use traditional horns and strings, but base them upon a foundation of driving drumbeats and guitar. These two tracks could, in my opinion, make a pretty dramatic underscoring for a haunted attraction. I definitely like the direction Full Moon took with these scores.
(Doll Graveyard clip)
The final track on the album is one of the latest from Richard Band, being the title track from Dangerous Worry Dolls. You can tell right from the start it is a Richard Band composition by the lofty strings—but Band takes a nice, unique twist by using a lot of ambient underscoring and mixing that adds some really nice depth to the track.
(Dangerous Worry Dolls clip)
So disc 1 of the Full Moon Archive Music Collection gets two bloody stumps up here. I’m a big fan of Full Moon and have always enjoyed their work and Charlie Band’s madness—so this disc makes a great addition to my already ludicrously large Full Moon library. I would recommend the album to any Full Moon fan, but would also recommend it to anyone who enjoys symphonic and orchestral pieces. They are nice tracks that feature some really memorable melodies and create some really cool moods, without being the sort of drab underscoring that most films today receive.
If you want to get yourself a copy of the music collection, head over to FullMoonDirect.com and simply click on their music category. This album is actually the only music recording they currently offer, and it features two discs—the first disc being what you just heard (the title tracks and symphonic pieces from their films) and the second disc featuring rock songs from their more recent films.
Well Deadites, that about does it for this week here in the Morgue. Be sure to tune in next time when I will be reviewing the second disc of the Full Moon Archive Music Collection! So if you want to get a sneak peek into that second disc, be sure to check back in! Until then, I’m Gruesome Joe, and I’ll be chilling out here in the Morgue watching Subspecies, waiting for you, until next time…
