LA VIA DELLA DROGA (OST)

La Via Della Droga a.k.a. The Heroin Busters is an Italian crime thriller from 1977 directed by Enzo G. Castellari who most of us know as the director of The Inglorious Bastards from 1978. This is also one of the few movies that Goblin wrote music for despite it not being a horror flick.

This complete version of the soundtrack was released by Cinevox towards the end of the '90s when the demand for Goblin's material was bigger than ever among fans of giallo films. This was ofcourse unfair to the fans of movies like Suspiria and Profondo Rosso since this soundtrack has very little in common with those classical scores. If anything, this soundtrack reminds me more of the '70s television police dramas and although Goblin does a nice job here the result isn't that impressive.

I would actually like to state that La Via Della Droga would appeal more to fans of progressive rock than then horror soundtrack fans because of Sequences 3, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 which are quite funky and sometimes cross over to the Jazz Rock/Fusion territory. The main title theme is very pleasant with it's playful melody played on the guitar while Sequence 2 is the closest Goblin gets to sounding like the band we all know them as.

Despite some nice material and occasional hints of progressive rock I just can't bring myself to awarding this soundtrack anything but an average rating. La Via Della Droga is a good but non-essential reminder of Goblins great material from the '70s.

**** star songs: La Via Della Droga - Seq. 1 - Main Titles (2:09) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 2 (2:03) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 3 (2:06) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 5 (4:39) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 8 (1:44) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 9 (2:30) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 10 (3:16) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 11 (1:36) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 13 - Finale (6:34)

*** star songs: La Via Della Droga - Seq. 4 (2:25) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 6 (2:53) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 7 (1:08) La Via Della Droga - Seq. 12 (2:21)