Here's Luigi Porto's score to the 2012 film 'L'Apocalisse Delle Scimmie' by Romano Scavolini, a film which I'm struggling to find any information about online. Controversial and banned? Maybe. Distributor jailed for 18 months for refusing to cut a violent scene? Possibly. The only source I could find for even these "facts" is another review of this very record. What I do know are Porto's own directions from the director - in the words of the composer himself, "he told me "I don't want film music. You have to create a sort of "pain symphony", something that continues even if the film stops, a music that doesn't care"." Armed with this increased artistic license, Porto's soundtrack channels classic Italian horror soundtracking with its sinister piano melodies, dramatic string flourishes and wordless operatic vocals, but it's full of dramatic mood changes and often quite modern details. Opener 'Distaste', for example, pairs some dramatic piano chords with a strange ambient backdrop of glitchily fluttering loops and digital interference, and the staccato synth and bass creep of 'Le Vespe' has some eerie avant-garde-ish discordant violin squeaks and piano tinkles building up a nerve-jangling tension. Weirder and more modern still is 'Distaste II' at the end of side A, where we meet rapper Mr Dead for a straight-up hip hop number that seems to be modelled on the recent (and superb) Ghostface Killah/Adrian Younge collaboration - it's not bad but seems completely out of place here (although when it comes to soundtracks these things that ruin the flow of the album often make more sense within the context of the film - even 'Escape From New York' has a dreadful showtune in the middle). The experimental drama of 'Scimme Overture' instantly gets things back on track with an 'Akira'-esque skittish grandeur mixing orchestra, choir, percussion and electronic textures that stretch from terrifying bombast to meditative cosmic calm, lively and meticulously arranged string-led drama, and awkward, sparse dark ambient chills. Loads going on here, and it's everything I'd look for in a modern film soundtrack - classic ideas chewed up and spat out in an irreverently contemporary but thoughtful fashion. 9/10 |