Contamination in Bloomington, MN

Although they are best known for their work with director
Dario Argento
, the
prog metal
soundtrack mavens in
Goblin
supplemented their income by cranking out scores for other Italian filmmakers on the side. A good example is
Contamination
, a 1980 score for a rather silly ripoff of
Alien
by director
Luigi Cozzi
. Although it contains flashes of the
genius that defined scores like
Suspiria
and
Profondo Rosso
,
feels like it was hastily slapped together. It eschews the complex melodies that pervade their work with
Argento
in favor of minimalist themes with short running times (indeed, most of the tracks are in the two to three minute range).
further differs from the usual
style by downplaying the band's love of electric guitar and lush production in favor of bare-bones arrangements dominated by synthesizers. Sometimes this works in the band's favor (the taut, atmospheric
"Time Is On"
), but it works against the band just as often (
"Flood"
is burdened with some corny, sci-fi synthesizer washes).
also gives itself over to a penchant for bland
jazz-rock
on filler tracks like
"Bikini Island"
"Pillage."
Despite these problems, there are still enough solid, atmospheric moments for the patient listener:
"Connexion"
updates the group's
gothic
hard rock
sound with judiciously timed bursts of programmed synthesizer, and
"Withy"
" effectively builds from a subtle blend of rhythm guitar and keyboard shadings to a spooky march-styled crescendo layered with spooky organ riffs. Another standout is
"Quiet Drops,"
a surprisingly mellow and moody track built on a delicate piano melody. In the end,
has enough memorable moments for
fanatics, but the novice listener would be better off checking out
or
. Collector's note:
Cinevox
reissued this album in 2001 with five bonus tracks, all alternate versions of tracks from the album. ~ Donald A. Guarisco