Darkly Cinematic Dancefloor: A Look At EXOTERICA
Okay, here’s the thing: I’ve never been one to dive deeply into music. Never knew where to start, honestly. Usually if I like a song, I just like it. About as surface level as you can get. As far as credentials go, I have about 20 years classical piano training beneath my fingertips (more or less). But that’ll only take you so far. A tuned ear for the subtle nuances of musical composition I do not have.
And yet that’s not going to stop me from rambling about it.
So, music… what about it? It’s nice to listen to, it’s fun to play for some, it can enhance situations and provoke emotions, all that jazz. But, as I’m sure you probably guessed, we wouldn’t be here unless some sort of “horror twang” was involved.
This time, horror comes in the form of the album Exoterica, performed by Profondo Delle Tenebre! Funny story, I listened to another band called Vernian Process before starting in on this article, and it turns out they both were created by the same person. Crazy, right?
So let’s talk Exoterica!
Exoterica (By Profondo Delle Tenebre, 2020)
“Profondo Delle Tenebre (roughly translated to Deep In The Darkness) presents our 2015 debut album, now newly reimagined and remastered for 2020. Take a trip through a cinematically influenced soundscape of horror and sci-fi atmospheres. Paying tribute to the films, composers and musicians that have inspired us over the years From 1970s Italian thrillers, and Haunted House flicks to early 80′ Post-Apocalyptic outback wastelands, and Punk-Rock Zombie Nightmares. Exoterica is a journey for your imagination.” – via Bandcamp.
It’s pretty damn good! That’s my professional opinion. Go ahead and slap that quote onto the album cover.
You’re welcome! Thanks for reading!
Until next time…
Ciao, friends! I guess I should add a little more to this.
First, what is this album attempting to accomplish? That’s a fair question to ask, don’t you think? Luckily, Joshua A. Pfeiffer, the band’s lead, was able to give us some insight on this!
“Exoterica is a love letter to the classic Horror, Sci-Fi, and Action media of the 70s and early 80s. Inspired by a wide range of sources, we attempted to fuse them all together into a cohesive album. We usually call it Dark Cinematic Dance Music.”
There were a lot of words I liked in that quote. I’m sure you could tell which ones those were: letter, range, and them. But also Horror, Sci-Fi, Action, etc. And those inspirations certainly bleed through into the finished product. Just look at some of these songs:
In The Cold Eyes Of Fear
A song that’s a tribute to 80s slashers, particularly Friday the 13th and Halloween! It’s a more industrial darksynth take on the genre, but the spirit is absolutely there. I could vividly imagine being chased through the woods to these intense beats… right before tripping over nothing and taking a machete to the skull.
Those That Lurk Beyond
Described as a “Post-Punk/Disco/Deathrock” tune, this one takes its inspirations from the films of Lucio Fulci, namely The Beyond. The blood of such flicks runs coldly beneath the heavy guitar and groovy percussion, making what I think is one of the best songs on the album!
The Return of the Living Shread
C’mon… you know why I like this. It’s not like I wrote an article on the movie it’s based on, right? In case some of you didn’t catch on yet, this song is a tribute to those classic zombie films of decades past (namely The Return of the Living Dead). Now, I’ll be completely honest, the surf-rock vibes threw me through a loop at first, but that’s only because I wasn’t expecting it. I mean, The Return of the Living Dead is a punk-themed movie, and the punk genre took some ques from surf-rock, so it fits!
Exoterica
It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t mention the album’s namesake song, would it? Described as a “Post-Punk/Goth-Rock/Industrial/Darksynth” song based on the 1970s Occult-sploitation genre, I can say… that I trust it’s all of the above. Listen, I told you I’m not a music analyst, and I’ve not watched as many 70s occult flicks as I probably should have, so I can’t say for sure how faithful it is to the source. What I can say is I like listening to it… so, take that for what you will.
Memento Mori
This is one of two songs that pay tribute to the Italian Giallo film genre. What, Giallo Julian wants to talk about the Giallo song? What a shocker! Please, hold your surprise until the end of the article. Anyway, as I was saying, I could totally hear this song being played in some 80s Giallo flick, which is all it needs to succeed in my book! Just imagine, this playing while a woman slowly exits her home… walking at a snail’s pace as she makes her way down the yard towards a firefly… which she stares at for a whole minute… before slowly walking back into her home, the entirety of the song being played during the whole scene. This would be kind of a weird tangent if it didn’t actually happen in an Argento flick. Not with this song, I could just imagine it being played there. This one is a banger and should be used in a Giallo film at some point. Maybe I should try to get on that.
There are plenty more songs on the album—eight, in fact, bringing the total to thirteen, the best number. This is only a sample of the macabre musical offerings that lurk within Exoterica’s tracklist. However, talking about music only does so much, given that it’s an auditory medium and not a visual one. It’s only fitting to give it a listen for yourself! Perhaps during a gothic dance party?
You can purchase Exoterica for yourself right here!
Until next time…
Ciao, friends!
Profondo Delle Tenebre includes The Shape/Edgar A. Lovecraft (Martin Irigoyen), Mario Argento (Steven Farrell), Dario Bava (Joshua A. Pfeiffer), and Richard Cynic. Check out and help support their music here!
Categorized:Editorials News
