Blood - Original Soundtrack

Must be the season of the witch!

As is common on blogs with black backgrounds and ghostly headers, throughout October you can expect all manner of spooky Hallowe'en related posting round these parts.

Specifically, I intend to share such music as never fails to give me the willies.

To begin with, here's a dark ambient classic that, were it made by the likes of Sunn O))) or Deathprod, would almost certainly be hailed as a harrowing masterpiece by those who care about this sort of thing.

But there doesn't seem to be a lot of crossover when it comes to those who love video games and those who love music. As a result, this particular unnerving masterpiece, has, I fear, been denied  the respect it deserves.

I've mentioned Blood before when talking about those horrible things that make me feel unaccountably Christmassy. It's a horror-themed PC FPS released in 1997. I'm not sure how the game fared when first released, but the game has such a huge cult following that it even has it's own Wiki. To this day, fans even create their own levels based upon their favourite horror films.

It is perhaps of no surprise that such a finely crafted and enduringly popular game should feature a strong accompanying soundtrack. Regardless of their opinion on video games, I would not hesitate to recommend that anybody with an interest in experimental or atmospheric music give this a listen.

The work of one Daniel Bernstein, it plays with numerous tones, textures and genres throughout its 33 minute runtime. Its mood, though, never shifts from one of sustained and delicious dread.
 

Admittedly, if experienced in the cold light of day, a lot of this might come across as quite cheesy. But if it's dark and you're alone and the walls are bleeding, this listening experience can be a thrilling exercise in unremitting terror.

Reminiscent of John Carpenter's synthwork, when you consider that the creepy-crawly opener Cryptic Passage is easily the brightest little ditty on here, you know you're in for a rough ride.

Elsewhere, songs like Unholy Voices and Dark Carnival sound every bit as sinister as their names suggest. The former is somewhat similar to Martin Grech's more godless moments; whilst the latter – with its demented clown laughter and sampled carny cries – wouldn't sound out of place on a particularly horrible Residents album.

The rest is a gloomy soundscape of distant nursery rhymes, harrowing synthetic orchestration and unearthly cultish intonations. In fact, a lot of the time this sounds like a precursor to Mike Patton's Delerium Cordia. Did he ever play Blood? It wouldn't surprise me.

Oh, and speaking of surprises, if you wish for an evening of godless chills, there might be something special waiting for you in the comments section.