Every day is Halloween for Dressel Amorosi, the Italian duo who carve their stories in synthesizers and basslines as if scoring a never-ending slasher film. Now they return from the shadows, sharpening their sonic blades for House of the Dolls, a chilling sequel to their cult 2018 soundtrack Deathmetha.
Italian duo revives cinematic horror
Halloween may have passed, but everyday is Halloween for Dressel Amorosi. Ministry puns aside. In 2018, the team of Heinrich Dressel, aka Valerio Lombardozzi, and Federico Amorosi, produced an LP of unique execution. Two musicians involved and inspired by cinema scores, they donned the hooded capes of Dressel Amorosi and created an epic slasher soundtrack: Deathmetha.
Their individual stories were told on this album. Lombardozzi and his work with Minimal Rome, his releases for labels like Bordello A Parigi, Lunar Disko and Mannequin, had been exploring the dramatic grandeur of his synthesizers for years. Amorosi is part of film music history. The bassist for Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin and Daemonia, he has captivated audiences around the globe with renditions of classic themes from Dawn of the Dead to Tenebre.
This intertwining of musical tales was fit for a story itself.
And then…silence.
It took another five years for the pair to come together. 2023 saw Spectrum. The style had shifted. Still influenced by the movie house, this time the Italian pair delivered a spread of styles with each dipped in the funk of the 1970s. A change, but not even a miniscule shift in quality.
The pursuit of hunter and prey in the dead of night ::
Now, the duo is once again being tempted back to the devilish side of their chosen instruments in the terror treated House of the Dolls.
The new album picks up where its 2018 counterpart left off. The cracking sample of “Radio Metha” opens a path for crisp drums, silken notes and looming strings. Brighter, the title piece balances innocent undertones with grand piano refrains. A haze of menace hangs over proceedings, the pursuit of hunter and prey in the dead of night conjured in the chilling and immersive “Escape.” The scene, and tempo, changes with “Octagon Tower.” Slow and smouldering, crystalline chords are built in layers of intensity.
There is a shift on the flip with “Woodland Whispers.” A steady beat supports scaling keys, a voice lurking in the undergrowth of this uplifting excursion. Solid rhythm patterns persist into “Starlight,” these beats offering a structure for melancholic, yet warm, notes to ascend. The smoke of the 1970s permeates the sound palette. “Eyeless Puppet” is less sinister than the name suggests. A lengthy resonating introduction gives way to a stark kick. Cold lines drape a rasping snare, an atmosphere of paranoia and unease taking hold. “Until the Night” ends with cinematic grandeur. Moulded and shaped like clay on a potter’s wheel, the track is held at a point of inclining tension without ever slipping. Lines circle, vulture-like, to a bold and dramatic break before the final scream.
Once again, Dressel Amorosi’s musicality and quality shines. The House of Dolls is emblematic of this partnership, two halves combining to create and album that is absorbing and gripping. An Italian duo continuing the cinematic traditions of their homeland.
The House of Dolls is available on Library of the Occult. [Bandcamp]
