As soon as the opening salvo “The Night The Screaming Began” on Alone 1980s brand new LP Blood From The Black Gate starts up you know what you’re getting into. From the buzzsaw synths to the banshee howl to the menacing rhythmic pull the ride has begun, and there’s no refunds. Touches of Pentagram Home Video, Slasher Film Festival Strategy, and The Night Terrors ooze from the speakers and into your psyche, painting a vision of 80s horror and creature feature anxiety.
Keep hands and feet in the car at all times, or they may get chopped off.
Sweden’s Alone 1980 has been making their own brand of imagined soundtracks for a few years now, making heavy synth opuses to the world of slashers, the supernatural, space madness, and existential dread for all to enjoy and lose their minds to. There’s a definitive balance between shadowy dread and optimistic tones that coalesce beautifully in Alone 1980’s musical world. Blood From The Black Gate has that in spades.
Alone 1980 isn’t pulling any punches here, as “The Black Gate” proves. Touches of Charles Bernstein come thru here as swirls of electronic dread ooze to the surface. If you heard this in a movie you’d know something was about to go down. Besides the doom-y title, “Only Death Awaits” has a sunset over a lake hopefulness to it. Dreamy in its delivery, this is the kind of track you settle into nicely. “Everywhere” has an almost 80s synth pop sound to it, with just a pinch of menace just under the surface. It’s somewhere between an 80s Cannon Films action flick and a dystopian teen romance at the end of the world.
Alone 1980 pulls out all the stops here. “Revelation” is heavily slathered in 80s neon decade optimism as the retro-futuristic vibes of “Temple Z” hangs ominously in the air. The Wojciech Golczewski-esque closer “Memento Mori” is somber and lovely, achingly melancholy and sparse while being epic in mood at the same time.
Blood From The Black Gate is yet another stunner from Alone 1980. It might even be this project’s most thoughtful, understated work yet. There’s plenty of nostalgia feels sonically, while still offering up something quite unique and singular. It’s a ride very much worth taking.
Alone 1980s ‘Blood From The Black Gate’ is out now via SFI Recordings. Buy it here.
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