I’ve covered so many transcendent shows in my three-plus years writing about music for the SunBreak, it’s almost dizzying. But the sold-out set by Italian rock ensemble Goblin last week was something darkly, magically special.
I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Neumos was packed to the rafters with horror and prog-rock fans last Friday, all bearing witness to Goblin’s first-ever Seattle show in the band’s entire 40-odd year history. And the band did not disappoint.
Goblin enjoy a lofty reputation as progressive rockers in their native Italy, but they gained international success as composers of some of the most influential soundtracks in horror film history. Their evocative, sensory-overloaded style provided dense, horrific walls of sound that immeasurably aided the work of some of terror auteur Dario Argento’s most stunning dark fairy tales, including 1975’s Deep Red and the 1977 art-horror masterwork Suspiria. Back when most shockers were still gilded with orchestral scores, Goblin injected bizarre keyboards, fierce guitars, driving rock drumming, and avant-garde noise into their work, immeasurably influencing other genre filmmakers and composers to follow suit.
But as they proved Friday night, Goblin were — and are — much more than just purveyors of background wallpaper for scary movies. The five-piece band (founding keyboardists Claudio Simonetti and Maurizio Guarini, founding guitarist Massimo Morante, drummer Titta Tani, and bassist Bruno Previtali) played plenty of tracks from their prog-rock records with stunning musicianship, and the ample selections from their horror film work were fueled by creative instrumental twists that made for immersive listening. Simply put, they were so musically captivating there was little need for the backdrop of film footage that unspooled behind them (cool as it was).
The official tally of film soundtrack pieces began during their second number, a radical reworking of Deep Red music, which the band morphed into an almost techno pulse before downshifting for some intense groove-rock passages. A sinister, spidery take on the band’s music for Argento’s 2001 giallo, Sleepless, followed.
Later in the set, selections from their Dawn of the Dead soundtrack accentuated the music’s strange but winning funkiness with Morante’s extended, moaning, dive-bombing guitar solos, and a passage from the 1982 Argento slasher Tenebrae added rattling percussion and trippy vocorder to a steady, disco-infused beat.
Goblin’s obvious joy at the rabid reception from the Neumos crowd burbled wonderfully throughout the evening. Simonetti snapped beaming selfies with his iPhone frequently during the band’s set, and he and the other band members high-fived audience members right and left. The band proved to be master showmen despite their relatively mild-mannered appearances: Simonetti and Guarini’s dual keyboard work was exhilarating without ever feeling overindulgent, and Morante fired off solos and funk licks with borderline-Hendrix theatricality. Relative young guns Previtali and Tani underpinned the whole mix with incalculably versatile and pulverizing rhythmic backbone. Simonetti even initiated a singalong, as he led the crowd through a chorus of hoarsely-whispered La La Las during a haunting rendering of the opening theme to Suspiria.
Bay Area prog-rockers Secret Chiefs 3 thundered through a potent opening set of instrumental rock that made for a sublime warm-up. Clad in Druidic robes, they stoked horror-nerd fires with a menacing take on the theme to John Carpenter’s Halloween between their original tunes.
Uber-fans took advantage of a VIP package that included access to Goblin’s soundcheck, a meet-and-greet, and a limited-edition print. Those who participated got a fun glimpse at the band’s workings with the soundcheck, and all five band members enthusiastically pressed the flesh with fans and autographed a trove of film and music memorabilia afterwards. It provided a rare element above and beyond the impenetrable cool of a typical rock show: Namely, the opportunity for admirers of the band’s work to experience complete and total nerdgasm.
