BACK TO THE GOBLIN 2005

Van Der Graaf Generator and Candlemass have proven that the reunion album can be done successfully. This past year Italian prog rockers Goblin tried their hand. Frontman Claudio Simonetti was not on board, but Maurizio Guarini, who was on the Profondo Rosso O.S.T. and Roller albums, sat in on this one. My problen with this release is the synthesizers. Ever since Bernard Herrmann's score for Brain De Palma's "Sisters" I've been in love with how a good old fashioned Moog can lay down a sense of dread and doom. Don't get me wrong, this IS a prog album, It's just not on the same plane as the Goblin opuses created in the '70s. But you'll be able to knock me over with a feather if the much awaited Genesis reunion can produce another Foxtrot. Musicians, like any other artist, are only going to create a watershed piece when the inspiration hits.

As far as "Back to the Goblin" is concerned; I believe the muse played a role in maybe half of the movements on this album, and the rest isn't too bad either.

"Victor" has no place on here; it sounds like one of those cheese intros on a power metal album.

"Dlen Dlon" is a nice track. Quite prog, but at times the guitar soars like Massimo Morante had a Rhapsody hangover from the first track.

"Bass Theme in E-" is, like you would expect, heavy on bass. Has some moody drums and keys with a little distorted voice of doom(if that helps) now and then. This one has a John Carpenter feel.

"Hitches" flirts with the eerie child chant(you know what I'm talking about). It get very bombastic with the synths and guitars.

"Japanese Air" is an ambient track in the Tangerine Dream vein, heavy on synth.

"Sequential Ideas" starts off with an awful drum machine-club beat, but gets better with some guitar licks and pipe organ synth. Not too bad, but sounds like filler.

"Lost In The Universe" rocks! Here Morante pulls off some nice Fripp-Hackett complexities plus some nice soloing.

"Magic Thriller" sounds the most like something from "Profondo Rosso". Very good rhythm.

Overall, if you're a fan of the early Goblin, check this out. The last two tracks are worth the price alone. It's far better than what Goblin wannabes Zombi have been releasing.

Celebrating 30 years in fine form, Goblin take heed and create a lovely, concise album with the release of 'Back To The Goblin.'

Dating back to the year 1975, Goblin released their very first studio effort with 'Profondo Rosso' and in my eyes the album was a huge success, and is still a giant land mark in the Horror/film scoring genre today as well as the RPI music scene as well. Amazingly 30 years later, being the year of 2005, Goblin still show no signs of rust or age for that matter with the album release of 'Back To The Goblin' which represents beautifully, a thirty-year tenure fully equipped with diverse soundscapes. 

'Back To The Goblin' was a project that was conceived a couple of years before the year 2005, in order to prepare and honor 30 quality years in music making. 2 years? For the making of an under 40 minute album? Well, in my opinion, it paid off and made sense. For this reason, it wasn't easy given the fact that both Guitarist/composer Massimo Morante and Bass/Keyboard virtuoso Fabio Pignatelli lived in Italy while the legendary keyboardist Maurizio Guarini was residing in Richmond Hill, Canada where he assumed studio control in 'Bedford Studios' While his other bandmates Marangolo, Morante and Pignatelli would write and record at the 'Pignatelli Studio' in Rome. I guess the band couldn't deal with the travel expenses or hassle of flying back and forth to compose and complete an album at their own leisure? Ummm? Nonetheless, the Goblin team would prove victorious given their geographical differences by making excellent use of 21st century technology, which is that new-Fangled thing called the Internet.  Compositions and sound sequences where thrown back and forth in Cyber like fashion from the Goblin machine, and it all started with the inception of Guarini's 'Victor' which, in my humble estimation, is a perfect lead off track opener to incite the direction Goblin were taking with this album and that direction was difference. 'Victor' is completely composed/recorded by Guarini himself and 'Victor' is not in any way, a typical sounding Goblin track. You could say that 'Victor' could be an opening theme to a very adventurous play or maybe even I would go so far to say that Guarini's creation could be used as a video game score. Furthermore, 'Victor' is a very clever track, but for the hard-core Goblin listener it may take some getting used to since it carries no moody or ominous dark nature to it. 

Meanwhile, back in Italy, Morante and Pignatelli were hard at work recording and laying down solid ground for the rest of the tracks on the album.  Specifically, Morante was working on his intial compositions like 'Bass theme in E minor' which is a thumpy and grumpy bass line that persists and pulsate's throughout the entire track and is an excellent track overall. I love it when the 'bass' is the featured instrument in a prog song. Also, I thought Pignatelli would have wrote that one! Another track that was being worked on, and my favourite on the 'Back To The Goblin' album is 'Dlen Dlon.' This is a song where you will be immediately hooked into an extremely catchy and edgy guitar riff followed up by Guarini and Pignatelli's amazing soft, ambient like keyboards while 2-minutes in, the track speeds up with Morante playing faster and Pignatelli crushing those Hammond pads to give the track the edge it deserves. All in all, a wonderful track and as I said my favourite on the album. The next Morante pieces to follow were 'Lost In The Universe' which starts off with a beautiful piano intro about 1 minute in, a light guitar performed by Morante seals the deal for a delicate beginning that would last to the 2min mark and then Bam!! Morante kicks his guitar up into high gear performing a nice little speed riff accompanied by the cymbal high hat crashing of Agostino Marangolo's drumming. A nice little Crescendo I might add. To continue,' Lost In The Universe' is actually a track you can get lost in because it is a perfect blend of Drums, keys, Bass and Guitar. Something that we all love and appreciate from that vintage Goblin sound.  Lastly, Morante's 'Hitches' which is a track that has some light vocals on it similar to the track 'School at Night (lullaby mix)' off Profondo Rosso special edition. To be honest, the vocals performed by 'Arden Smith' is something I really can't get into and it's borderline distracting for me, as a listener. The vocals are sparse on the track, which is a good thing cause they are performed as if a 10 year old child is having a bit of fun with a microphone. Mainly, I felt 'Hitches' lost major points here because i think Goblin should just stick to being the great Pantomimes they are, especially on this album. My guess is that the vocals on 'Hitches' were for diversity's sake, but I can't see or hear how it fits on this album. It's a mistake I think, but on a higher note and Morante's last major contribution to the album is the 'Back To The Goblin's closing track 'Thriller' and it is nothing for short of pure gold. Guarini's keys start slow and frightening while Pignatelli picks up the synth slack by fashioning such a beautiful, cleverly upbeat and fast melody that's around 6 or 7 notes in the making. The 'Thriller' track is full of many twists and turns with regards to the style and tempo of the track. It's a fantastic conclusion indeed. 

Moreover, Fabio Pignatelli was concocting his own creatively written and composed tracks with 'Sequential Ideas' and 'Japanese Air.' I must say that both of these tracks are so very well done and are more electronically driven than the Morante vision of song crafting. 'Japanese Air' starts off like it could be that of a Tangerine Dream song from the 80's Blue years catalogue. The intro reminds me of a lot of Hammond synths sequences taken from Tangerine Dream's 'Live Miles' track, especially near the end of the song. 'Japanese Air' is the most emotional song on the album and focuses on the more serious side of Goblin's playing style and character rather than being dark and Moody as most Goblin veterans know them to be. On the contrary, 'Japanese Air' is a soft, kind of ambient song with very touching and romantic melodies attached to it. I was deeply moved, especially since I've never heard Massimo play his Guitar in a David Gilmore and Steve Rothery like fashion. A soft touch by Pignatelli to have Morante play like that for this particular track. In any case, 'Japanese Air' is a complete winner and rounds out the album's overall diversity so incredibly well. On the another hand, 'Sequential Ideas' is an up beat, kind of in your face track that could belong in a Dancehall. Pignatelli created a beauty here, getting Guarini to play his keys like they belong in a Dracula movie while instilling a light disco beat to go along with the bass playing and drums.  A very creative track that most Goblin fans are really going to appreciate because it's really like nothing they've ever done, and from my experiences it's 'Diversity' that usually wins over the prog hearted individual. 

Thus, 'Back To The Goblin' is a fine representation to mark a historic land mark of 30 years of creating some of the very best and most unique music in progressive rock in general. 'Back To The Goblin' also depicts such character from the band, by how well Goblin work together as a team/unit. They are a beautiful team of musicians at that and I thought it was really neat how they worked so well together without not being in contact as an entire cohesive unit working together in the studio. The power of technology, and it just goes to show you that 'Goblin' as a band, are not afraid to adapt to any differences in terms of not having the total complete convenience of being able to write and compose an album together in the studio. Now that is musicianship baby! To continue, and given the light of all these circumstances, I cannot find much fault with this album at all. I really can't other than the fact as I mentioned earlier,  the vocal parts on 'Hitches' were deeply annoying for me and I felt the album was a tad too short. I would have loved to had at least one 10min epic showcasing the classic Goblin skill with the basis of a really dark atmosphere because after all, 'Back to The Goblin' is a pretty light and listening friendly album that showcases a ton of diversity while minimizing the famous dark and ominous scores they are trademarked for doing in Dario Argento horror pictures. Goblin really terrifically showed a different side to what kind of music they can create and surprisingly did it all without Claudio Simonetti, who was Goblin's leading Keyboard virtuoso from when they started back in 1975, but Pignatelli and Guarini have stepped up big time to fill some pretty big shoes left by Simonetti in the keyboard/synth department as well as other additional programming. 

Above all, I have to award this album a perfect rating even if the album doesn't include one of Goblin's most highly decorated band members in Claudio Simonetti. Regardless of that, the album is still a masterpiece that is full of character, diversity and clever song writing/composition. I would even recommend 'Back to The Goblin' for a Goblin newcomer, who wants to explore the wonderful music they have to offer by going beyond just horror picture scores. 'Back To The Goblin' is an album that is a quick listen (39min) and sadly it will leave you wanting a bit more, but I do see the point as to why Goblin kept this album to be a very tight, efficient and concise album cause when you embark on new territory in terms of sound, you may not want to go overboard. Goblin, certainly didn't do that and I admire them for that. They walked before they ran. 

5/5

It's a relief to find a modern comeback album by a vintage progressive band that doesn't sound like an uninspired group of old men merely going through the motions! 2005's `Back To The Goblin' features the members of Italy's premier horror soundtrack group who recorded one of my all-time favourite progressive albums `Roller' (only missing keyboard maestro Claudio Simonetti here), and although this work doesn't come quite so close to the perfection of that record, there's more an enough quality musicianship and experimental textures to be of much interest to fans of the bands and darker tinged progressive rock. It has all the usual traits that highlight most of their albums, with a couple of absolute knockout pieces. Guitarist Massimo has never sounded so wild and excited, bass player Fabio Pignatelli never so loose, Maurizio Guarini employs a great variety of keyboard sounds and styles that pushes the band into previously unexplored directions, with drummer Agostino Marangolo perfectly complementing everything perfectly.

One thing you won't see coming is the music on the first track that opens the album `Victor'. Not only is it nothing like what you'd expect from Goblin, but it more resembles an epic symphonic Rick Wakeman-styled orchestrated piece (although performed on keyboards). It's pompous and grand, triumphant and whimsical, and I was quite put off by it on my first few spins as it sounds barely anything like Goblin. But I've come to find it's still very cinematic, which means it's really just the band experimenting with a different type of soundtrack work. Fellow Prog Archives reviewer Nick (Progbethyname) pointed out in conversations that it would make the perfect accompaniment to a `Legend of Zelda' or fantasy videogame, and I completely agree. It's pretty amazing to hear keyboard player Maurizio Guarini arranging such a piece like this.

`Dien Dion' will reassure fans right away, as it's full of typical Goblin twinkling synth mystery, churning heavy guitar, crashing drumwork and imposing organ blasts, and well as a few slight nods to their previous classic works, especially the opening cut of `Profondo Rosso'. `Hitches' is a bombastic horror blast that sees Massimo tearing his electric guitar through a child's lullaby over punchy synth stabs and bashing drumwork. It even reminds me slightly of the comeback albums from Italian occult icons Antonius Rex (as do many little moments scattered around the album), and I'm certain that synth solo in the outro reminds me a lot of ex-Dream Theater keyboard player Derek Sherenian. `Sequential Ideas' runs through pounding synth/dance pop, 70's club/funk, orchestrated grandiosity and intimidating heavy shredding, really moving through a range of many styles the band has covered in their 40 plus year career. `Lost In The Universe' combines emotional piano tinkering punctuated with heavier guitar sections and stomping percussion outbursts.

But like all Goblin albums, there's several superb tracks that highly impress. I was totally blown away by `Bass Theme in E' on my first listen, and it shows a looser, more ambient and thoughtful band that we don't see too often on their studio works. Gorgeous floating, pulsing bass from Fabio weaves around gentle washes of synths and chirping keyboard soloing, gradually building in mystery and tension as it moves back and forth in tempo. My absolute favourite part of the album is `Japanese Air', a deeply Tangerine Dream- influenced ambient piece that ebbs and flows with the gentlest of orchestrated synth waves and reflective piano before a hugely passionate electric solo solo that not only ranks up there with his best, but would almost give David Gimour a run for his money.

The band wraps on the dominating, aggressive yet impossibly catchy `Magic Thriller'. Just listen to how well the two keyboard players here Fabio and Maurizio pile on skittering synth patterns that scrape at the nerves, maddening jazzy piano soloing, and uptempo pulsing synth runs over stalking heavy guitar tension and tormenting dramatic orchestration, not to mentions Agostino's stomping drumming. Anyone who has seen the band open their recent shows with this number will know how great it is, and it's a classic Goblin track as good as any of their most loved 70's pieces.

`Back To The Goblin' is overall another winning addition to the band's fascinating discography that fans of the group shouldn't hesitate to snap up. Although this particular line-up has splintered, with Goblin figurehead Claudio Simonetti now back in the band, and assisted by his Daemonia cohorts Bruno Previtali and Titta Tani who now serve as live touring members, there's so much potential for the band to make the most of their current status in progressive circles and the goodwill they have from horror audiences and record again. Hopefully we'll eventually get another studio album from them yet, but if not, this is a very respectable, varied and successful work for them that means they can exit with their heads held proudly high.

Four stars.