Rooted in Horror
Rooted in Horror
Written & Performed by: Darkest Heart (Shelly A. Plaisance, Jr.)
(Excluding Track 7 performed by Mother Nature)
Track Length: 11
Where to Purchase: Download full album at Darkest Heart via Digstation/CDbaby
Hello Ghouls and Boils,
Tonight She Never Slept brings you our first Horror music review. I met the fiery-maned Shelly Plaisance of Darkest Heart at the 2009 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and Cthulhu Con. When he told me he created a horror CD – with a song based on Lovecraft’s work… I was intrigued. I assigned Rooted in Horror to SNS Reviewer Patrick J. Kennedy, he has a great ear for music. I must confess, the Lovecraftian part made it hard for me to resist, so I did give a listen as well and rather enjoyed it. This CD will now be added to my rotation of “spooky music”. (The unofficial playlist for She Never Slept’s 13 Days of Halloween event!) Without further ado, I present to you Partick’s thoughts on Rooted in Horror. Enjoy my fiends!
Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Gerhardt
Azathoth, the Daemon Sultan, obviously never heard the philosophy that you have to catch them with a hook in the first 20 seconds. A paradigm enforced at Motown by Berry Gordy, another Great Old One that inspired fear and insanity amongst his followers, but that’s not what we are looking for in the mood piece “Azathoth’s Court”, that starts Rooted in Horror, the haunted house inspired album from Shelly Plaisance’s project Darkest Heart.
According to Shelly, Darkest Heart “began as a plan for a marketing tool for the 13th Gate Haunted House in Baton Rouge, LA; consistently one of the best in the nation (2009 made its 2nd number 1 ranking.) However, people have budgets, and plans fall through. After sponsors fell through, I decided to continue on my own and make the album a showcase of different styles and skills that could translate to horror movie soundtracks and video games.”
Well, Mr. Plaisance is certainly skilled and exhibits several different styles well on the album. “Straight Jacket Dreams” is a nice little tune very reminiscent of the kind of stuff you might hear in an Italian slasher flick. I would say it might even be described as “Goblin”-esque! Ahuh, huh, heh, ….okay, I suck. “Damned Clowns” has some really fine chase music vibes, “Gustav Howls” is exactly what it says and says what it is, the sounds of Hurricane Gustav. “Rage for Days” inspired me to yell, “Play that thrashy Metal for me, man!” The penultimate track “Found in Me” has a distinctly grungy sound to it, very Alice in Chains, with out being derivative or pandering. The finale song “Cut ‘em Down” is a Bluesy, guitar driven piece with just enough of what Zappa might have called “wheedily-wheedily” licks.
Final Thoughts:
Seems like a really good album to throw on at a non-dance Halloween party or for a good ol’ table top horror RPG session. It also has some really cool hard-rock and metal sounds, yet isn’t intellectually stunted like so much of that stuff can be. You might also dig it if you like listening to soundtrack albums and film scores or if you are into Cajun and Creole culture. I’d give it a solid 4 out of 5, maybe even more with further listens. Maybe I’ll make pork chops with ginger snap gravy and dirty rice for dinner. Got to get me down to Baton Rouge. Magnifique!
Patrick J Kennedey – Minion (Reviewer)
There are 1 Comments to "Rooted in Horror"
Thanks to Sarah and Patrick for the time and effort to review the album.
I can’t even express how awesome the HPLFF and Cthulhucon were.
The friendliest and most open group of creatures of darkness I have ever met.
My favorite track on the album is still the Cthulhu Swamp Cult, tribal drums has been my calling card for a while now.
Thanks again to Joe Pulver for introducing me to Sarah.
If anyone out there doesn’t have Joe’s “Blood Will Have It’s Season” get a copy.
It makes my skin crawl in the best of ways.
Thanks, Shelly