Claudio Simonetti
La Terza Madre

Claudio Simonetti doesn’t need an introduction. An artistic partner of Dario Argento, as well as a musician and composer, he has crafted soundtracks for films like Suspiria, Inferno, The Card Player, Opera, Demons, and so on up to The Mother of Tears. Unfortunately, I must say that this CD is not what one, or at least I, would have expected.

The first perplexity arises from the absence of Goblin, essential co-authors of past successes, passing through the almost total absence of electronic samples; in short, for these and other reasons, this release smells like a commercial operation, and it seems to me that the same reproach was made for the film, which, however, is not related to the review.

Now, I certainly do not disdain classical music, but when it is too static and slow, well... it's like an unwanted guest. The D.I.M.I. orchestra of Rome interpreting a symphony by Schubert, Haydn, Mozart is one thing, another is 45 tracks on average 2 minutes each, and moreover repetitive... the reason that compels me to give one star is the last track, the end credits, in which Simonetti collaborates with the great Dani Filth.

‘She's the mother of tears’ is the track's title, and in my opinion, it should be considered close to the style of Cradle of Filth, who have always made extensive use of orchestral sampling. In this regard, I place it above all the other masterpieces of the band; indeed, neither ‘To Eve the art of witchcraft’, nor ‘Gothic romance’, nor ‘Beneath the howling stars’, nor ‘Nymphetamine’ struck me as much as this song. But I do not want to be presumptuous, so I add in my defense that this CD (ok, I've said it) in several occasions anticipates what is the final melody as well as the whispers of Dani Filth, whose effect is precisely an emotional amplification once one reaches the track, once the distorted keyboards and violins finally appear, transitioning into a binary rhythm, only to be suffocated under a bass drum outburst that leaves the void to Dani's unique and incredible voice, which ignites in a deep register the malicious and cruel verses where Dante's 'virgin and mother' deforms into 'Virgin and a whore' directed at the film’s witch, passing through the screams of the refrain, the drums, and the concluding verses, on the same melody that seems like a prayer to the infernal realms.

And with this, I think I've said everything I think about this album, to which, to my regret, I add, do not buy it!!