The Eye – Supremacy (1997)

Country: France

Tracklist

1. The Eternal Oath Of Lie 06:37
2. The Land 02:50
3. The Call Of A Thousand Souls 07:07
4. My Supremacy 06:26
5. Aidyl 03:10
6. The Purest Domination In Wisdom (The Eternal Eye) 05:12
7. Your Weakness... (Bastard Son Of Fear) 05:55
8. The Eye 02:09

Formed around 1996 in Mondeville, Lower Normandy, France, The Eye was a side-project of Vindsval, 

better known from his band Blut Aus Nord among his other acts.

Much like the early Blut Aus Nord albums, Vindsval recorded everything on his own,

and the style of music is quite similar to that of the first Blut Aus Nord albums,

meaning dark, repetitive compositions of cold, hypnotic black metal.

In its short lived existence The Eye released a demo in 1996 entitled "Normanniska"

and a full length album in 1997 on the French label Velvet Music International entitled "Supremacy".
In 2014 there was a rumor that Vindsval had reformed the project

this time with the help of Tor-Helge Skei (aka Cernunnus of Manes, Manii) but no news have surfaced since then.
The Memory link contains as bonus the tracks from their demo.

Memory

Primordia – The Gleaming Eye (1993)

Country: England

Tracklist

1. Meléni 05:28
2. Surface Tension 03:48
3. The Gleaming Eye (Vers.) 04:24
4. Laughing Torso 05:17
5. Mother Love II 05:12
6. Kaosphere 04:44
7. Samhain 05:53
8. What The Breather Brings 04:19
9. Coming Down Fast / The Gleaming Eye 08:24
10. Forever Years 05:10
11. Ikon 13:22

Primordia was a short lived synth-goth project of the late 80s/early 90s.
The band featured Lucy Furlong and W.M. Owens,

that he is also known for his participation on the early albums of Fire + Ice.

Their sound is balancing gracefully between embedded orchestral darkwave elements

and electro/industrial pulsating rhythms.
"The Gleaming Eye" is a collection of recordings from 1988 to 1992 and was released by World Serpent Distribution.

Memory

Namanax – Audiotronic (1997)

Country: United States

Tracklist

1. The Return Of The Deadly Mantis 13:52
2. Immune 14:08
3. Aquanax 18:19
4. Tomb Of The Seagull 16:26
5. The Giggling Winds 10:06

Namanax was the project of multi-instrumentalist Bill Yurkiewicz, co-founder of Relapse Records

 and musician performing in grindcore, metal, industrial and noise bands, who operated his studio in Pennsylvania.
With Namanax Yurkiewicz tried to produce loud noise through the layering of multiple sources of sound.
His first two albums, "Multi-Phase Electrodynamics" (Release, 1993)

and "Cascading Waves Of Electronic Turbulence" (Release, 1996) were recorded live

and were notable mainly for their intensity.
On his third release, "Audiotronic" (Release, 1997), Yurkiewicz was joined by guitarist/producer James Plotkin 

and Kipp Johnson on the synthesizers/samples.
The album contains five lengthy pieces inspired by soundtracks of monster movies.
"Audiotronic" increases the doses of guitar experimentation and the creation of dark textures

but also toning down the noise violence.
Their last album, "Monstrous" (Release, 1998), was basically a continuation of "Audiotronic" featuring four long tracks.
Namanax was also featured on the soundtrack of the 1997 film "Gummo" with the track "The Medicine Man".
At the same period Bill Yurkiewicz was also involved in a side-project with Kipp Johnson

 and the help of James Plotkin, named Solarus.

Memory

Arkham – Obscurs Et Éternels (Demo 1996)

Country: France

Tracklist

1. Blood Is Life 05:54
2. The Haunter Of The Dark 08:55
3. Live Evil 03:21
4. Seasons Of The Underworld 07:05

The band was formed in January 1994 by Comte d’Erlette (Bass/Vocals)

and Syuth n’ Guaraath (Guitars/Vocals, also member of The Last Battle)

under the name of Necromancya as a tribute to Howard Phillips Lovecraft's stories.
During the summer of 1994 they changed their name to Arkham and joined by Vincent (Drums) and Joachim (2nd Guitar).
In winter of 1995 Mathieu (Synths) and Marion (Female Vocals) recruited but Joachim left the band.
With this line up they recorded their first demo "Obscurs Et Éternels" in June of 1996 that sold more than 200 copies.
In the next few months Vincent, Marion and Mathieu left the band.
At the end of 1996, Lord Von Carthasis joined Arkham as a new drummer.
The year after, in March, they recorded the "Promo - Tape 1897" (later was used on their split with Nuit Noire)

of which one track was also presented on the Velvet Music International's compilation "Encyclopedia Pestilentia".
In July of 1997 a rehearsal tape was recorded.
By the end of 1999 Lord Von Carthasis had left the band as he preferred to devote himself to his projects

and Tenebras (from Nuit Noire) replaced him handling the drums followed by Sire Cedric who realized the sound effects.
Thanks to this new line-up Arkham released in 2000 the "Malediction" demo album, composed of eight tracks.
In 2004 their EP "Chapter III: The Madness From The Sea" was released as a limited edition CD of 994 handnumbered copies.

Memory

Les Baxter – The Pit And The Pendulum (1961)

Composer: Les Baxter

Tracklist

1. Main Titles 04:46
2. Francis Inquires 01:32
3. Elizabeth's Tomb 02:46
4. Nicholas' Trauma 06:22
5. Music In The Night 03:09
6. Incipient Madness 02:41
7. Castle Medina 00:58
8. Nightmare 00:40
9. Dark Corridors 01:26
10. Dead End 02:09
11. Nicholas' Guilt 01:45
12. Late Wife 00:24
13. Suspicions 03:03
14. True, True! 05:19
15. Voices And Spiderwebs 05:10
16. Don Medina's Return 02:18
17. The Pit And The Pendulum 06:29
18. End Titles 02:12

The Pit And The Pendulum is a 1961 horror film directed by Roger Corman,

starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, John Kerr, and Luana Anders.

The screenplay by Richard Matheson was loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story of the same name.
The film was the second title in the popular series of Poe adaptations released by American International Pictures,

the first having been Corman's House Of Usher released the previous year.
Like House, the film features widescreen cinematography by Floyd Crosby,

sets designed by art director Daniel Haller, and a film score composed by Les Baxter.

A critical and box-office hit, Pit's success convinced AIP and Corman to continue adapting Poe stories 

for another six films, five of them starring Vincent Price.

The series ended in 1965 with the release of The Tomb Of Ligeia.
Film critics have noted the film's strong influence on numerous subsequent Italian thrillers,

from Mario Bava's The Whip And The Body (1963) to Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975).
Stephen King has described one of Pit's major shock sequences

as being among the most important moments in post-1960 horror film.
Leslie Thompson "Les" Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was a best-selling American musician and composer.

After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands,

he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as Exotica and scored over 100 motion pictures.
Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles at Pepperdine College.
From 1943 on he played tenor and baritone saxophone for the Freddie Slack big band.
Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer.
In 1950 Baxter started arranging and conducting for Capitol Records 

 and conducted the orchestra in two early Nat King Cole hits, "Mona Lisa" and "Too Young".

He also recorded Yma Sumac's first album: "Voice Of The Xtabay",

which can be considered one of the first recordings of Exotica.
In 1951 he made the original recording of "Quiet Village" which years later became a hit for Martin Denny.

In 1953 he scored his first movie, the sailing travelogue Tanga Tika.
With his own orchestra, he released a number of hits including "Ruby" (1953), "Unchained Melody" (1955),

"The Poor People Of Paris" (1956) and "Sinner Man" (1956).
"Unchained Melody" was the first million seller for Baxter and was awarded a gold disc.
"The Poor People Of Paris" also sold over one million copies.
He also achieved success with concept albums of his own orchestral suites: Le Sacre Du Sauvage, Festival Of The Gnomes,

Ports Of Pleasure, and Brazil Now, the first three for Capitol and the fourth on Gene Norman's Crescendo label.

The list of musicians on these recordings includes Plas Johnson and Clare Fischer.
Baxter also wrote the "Whistle" theme from the TV show Lassie.
In the 1960s, he formed the Balladeers, a conservative folk group in suits that at one time featured a young David Crosby.

Later he used some of the same singers from that group for a studio project called The Forum.

He worked in radio as musical director of The Halls Of Ivy and the Bob Hope and Abbott And Costello shows.
Like his counterparts Henry Mancini and Lalo Schifrin, Baxter worked in films in the 1960s and 1970s. 

He worked on movie scores for B-movie studio American International Pictures 

where he composed scores for Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films and other horror and beach party films

including House Of Usher, The Pit And The Pendulum, The Raven, Muscle Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo.

He also composed a new score for the theatrical release of the 1970 horror film Cry Of The Banshee 

after AIP rejected Wilfred Josephs's original one.

Howard W. Koch recalled that Baxter composed, orchestrated and recorded

the entire score of The Yellow Tomahawk (1954) in a total of three hours for $5,000.
When soundtrack work fell off in the 1980s, he scored music for theme parks such as SeaWorld.

Memory

Faun – Betrothed Unto Death (Demo 1995)

Country: Norway

Tracklist

1. Som Taager I Maaneskjaer 02:58
2. En Hyllest Til Døden 02:50
3. Winternight's Lightning 02:29
4. Alene 02:51
5. Pagan Sons Of The Artic Realm 02:07
6. Within The Shadows Of Darkness 03:06
7. I Prakten Ligger Makten 01:37
8. Into The Web Of Winter (Reh. W/Full Line Up, No Voc) 03:08

Faun was risen from the ashes of early 90´s Norwegian cult bands Energumen and Coffin Of Lament, 

being part of the legendary Hønefoss Black Metal scene beside bands such as Dim Nagel, Kvist and Urgehal.
In 1992 Northgrove and Ravenloft created the band Coffin Of Lament and released the demo "Gwrach-Y-Rhibyn".
In 1994 they changed the name of the band to Faun.
Ravenloft was replaced by Razaak and Agina Taran joined as a session member in 1995.
Faun released three demo tapes before disbanding in 1996 after Northgrove focused on his new band Vulture Lord.

Memory

Opus Malefici – Obscure Thoughts (MCD 1997)

Country: Italy

Tracklist

1. Liber Theth: Into The Whirl Of Lust & Ecstasy 03:12
2. Inhuman Destiny 03:57
3. Dark Empty Way 03:07

Opus Malefici was an Italian black metal band that was formed in 1995 with members from Darkness.
In April 1996 their debut demo was recorded and professionally printed and distributed by Dyna Records.
A few months later three members left in order to keep playing in Darkness and a new line up was established.
Some appearances on Italian compilation were followed and later they offered a deal from Nocturnal Music

 for the release of a MCD which was also the first from this newly created back then label.
The MCD was recorded on December of 1996 and released in 1997 entitled "Obscure Thoughts" 

featuring Simone Biliotti (Ghoul Vault, Menschenfeind) on vocals,

Marco Mazzoni (ex-Necromass, ex-Handful Of Hate) on guitars and Matteo Bennici (ex-Cryogen, ex-Merdiolence) on bass.

The drums were written by Matteo Kleeman and recorded on a drum machine.

There were future plans for a full length album as the band was working on new songs but this was never happened.

Memory