Dante Tomaselli is a name that true horror fans know dating back to the amazing low-budget horror flick HORROR back in 2002 ( you can read The Arrow's review with Tomaselli right HERE). He is also known for directing SATAN'S PLAYGROUND and TORTURE CHAMBER.
Tomaselli is also a composer and has released three albums including SCREAM IN THE DARK, NIGHTMARE and THE DOLL. Tomaselli recently sat down with Fango to give them the first look at the cover for his fourth album, WITCHES, which you can now get on ITUNES, SPOTIFY and AMAZON.
Dante Tomaselli on experimenting with WITCHES:
I’m midway through WITCHES, and I’m definitely experimenting with more beats and pulses on this one. It’s like a soundtrack to one of my films, and almost feels industrial-flavored, or like John Carpenter in spots. I recently purchased a MoroderNova synthesizer, and already its arpeggios are adding mysterious new layers. I like the old-school vibe of analog or Moog-type sounds, though of course I edit digitally.
Tomaselli on the desired sensation of his music:
As with my films, I’m interested in hypnosis, trancelike states and the powers of the mind. I’ve been told that some people—horror journalists and screenwriters—like writing to my music, and I’m glad, because the albums are meant to rattle the imagination. You can brainstorm, and the music almost melds and becomes one with your creation, or turn off the lights and lose yourself in the images and sensations the soundscapes might conjure. I like to create hallucinogenic music that feels like you’re moving through the dark—searching with your hands in a mazelike funhouse. I was raised on this kind of dark-ride aesthetic. Growing up, some of my favorite albums were ’70s Halloween soundscape LPs like SOUNDS TO MAKE YOU SHIVER! and CHILLING, THRILLING SOUNDS OF THE HAUNTED HOUSE. I listened to those gloomy and atmospheric albums endlessly, my imagination lighting up.
On the aura of WITCHES and its cover art:
Over the last Halloween season, my album SCREAM IN THE DARK was in some seasonal stores and used in haunted attractions and funhouses. WITCHES has a kind of mist-shrouded, graveyard-at-night, Halloween aura too. For its cover, like the others, I was art director and the illustrator was Hae Ree Choi.