The Music of Evil Dead

[Hurley]

Because I've been fascinated with the Evil Dead music for quite some time now, I thought it would be interesting to set up a thread around it, if only to just pass the time before the new season of AvED.

To get things started, here are some topics I think might be interesting to discuss here:

• What is your favourite Evil Dead score (out of the original trilogy, the remake, and the TV show), or even any specific theme or song?
• Do you own any of the existing soundtracks in any way (like for example the new vinyl releases of Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness)?
• Any news about the soundtrack for AvED season 2 (if we're ever gonna get it, that is…)
• Do you have any favourite (horror) scores that are similar to the Evil Dead music or that you would recommend to an Evil Dead music fan?
• What do you think about the pop/rock songs used in the TV show and what other songs would you like to hear in the following episodes?

Enjoy!

 

[Muzzlehatch]

Well, Danny Elfman's AoD score is quite stellar. But I also enjoyed Joseph DoLuca's tunes for the series, specially the pieces from the cabin episodes like "Linda / Where it began" or "Dear Amanda / Shut up Linda" (mostly the Linda tracks as I see now).

The rock songs also suit many scenes well. Ash putting on the chainsaw for the first time in 30 years and slicing off Vivian's head off while "Journey to the Center of the Mind" is playing? A genius choice. But in my opinion they overused the rock songs a little bit since S2. I assume they are supposed to make the action scenes feel fun and badass and perhabs they suceed with that. But I would prefer a more dramatic score. Because what I like about the Franchise is the paranoia and omnipresent danger. Not so much the fun splatter aspect.

That's the reason I also dislike the short retrospective every episode starts with. With that upbeat rock tune it sounds like a generic comedy Show. I think a dramatic score with a typical Ash voice over like in the beginning and end of AoD would work much better.

 

[Sutter Cane]

• What is you favourite Evil Dead score (out of the original trilogy, the remake, and the TV show), or even any specific theme or song?

My favorite score is Evil Dead 2. It's dramatic, suspensful and even wicked. It fit perfectly the mood of the movie. I've always found this soundtrack different and more original than a typical movie score.

AoD is also great but more epic and adventurous. I like more the wicked ones so ED2 is my top choice all the way.

• Do you own any of the existing soundtracks in any way (like for example the new vinyl releases of Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness)?

Unfortunately no, I listen them on youtube channel.

• Any news about the soundtrack for AvED season 2 (if we're ever gonna get it, that is…)

For what it is I'm not interested. Not as great as the movies score. Some great moment but not memorable.

• Do you have any favourite (horror) scores that are similar to the Evil Dead music or that you would recommend to an Evil Dead music fan?

The Re-animator theme. You must listen to this. Very wicked and colorful. I love this kind of mood.

• What do you think about the pop/rock songs used in the TV show and what other songs would you like to hear in the following episodes?

They are great songs! I love Deep purple, White Snake and AC/DC but not in Evil Dead. It work sometime but they over use them. Dramatic score fit way much batter. I also think the show should have been more serious too, but that's another story.

 

[MaidOfKandar]

This is an amazing topic, Hurley, good work!

• What is you favourite Evil Dead score (out of the original trilogy, the remake, and the TV show), or even any specific theme or song?

I literally want the AOD score played at my funeral. I love everything about it. I have a fondness for the big sweeping romantic themes. But all of the score work is nearly flawless, and I have so much respect in general for JLD.

• Do you own any of the existing soundtracks in any way (like for example the new vinyl releases of Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness)?

CD copies of everything but the Ash vs ED score.

• Any news about the soundtrack for AvED season 2 (if we're ever gonna get it, that is…)

Nada. I'm guessing the season one one undersold?

• Do you have any favourite (horror) scores that are similar to the Evil Dead music or that you would recommend to an Evil Dead music fan?

Re-Animator, as suggested above by SutterCane, is great. Gremlins kind of counts, so I'm reccing Gremlins.

• What do you think about the pop/rock songs used in the TV show and what other songs would you like to hear in the following episodes?

I'm generally all right with it, though I think in the end it's going to make cross-licensing the show harder for them than it needs to be. A lot of the choices were on the nose but I really liked most of the trailer music choices. I've listed mine but "Paranoid" would still be perfect.

 

[Hurley]

This is interesting, because the Army of Darkness score is actually my least favourite one, not necessarily because it's a bad soundtrack, but because it is so different from what I love about the other scores.

I really like the first soundtrack and the score for Evil Dead II is my favourite of them all (I even own the WaxWork LP and it's amazing). However I also love the remake soundtrack by Roque Baños and Joseph's soundtrack for the first season of AvED, which (as I think I've mentioned before) I like even more than the show itself and I'd love for the season 2 soundtrack to be released (what's actually interesting about the AvED score is that it references not only many themes from the two original movies, but also some from the remake).

Also if you like the remake soundtrack, I can recommend the score for Don't Breathe by the same composer (and also from a movie by Fede Alvarez) or the Douglas Pipes soundtrack for Krampus, which basically sounds like a Christmas version of the Evil Dead remake soundtrack.

However I have yet to find some classical horror score that would remind me of the Joseph LoDuca stuff which is just the best. Like the Re-Animator soundtrack isn't bad, but the main theme is basically just a ripoff of the Psycho theme. Nothing else.

 

[DyD]

What is your favourite Evil Dead score (out of the original trilogy, the remake, and the TV show), or even any specific theme or song?

- Favorite full score: Evil Dead II, by Joe LoDuca
- Favorite single track from that score: "Behemoth"
- Favorite track not by Joe LoDuca: The jazzy tune that plays when Ash is in the cellar and during the end credits of The Evil Dead. It's been my ringtone for quite a while now. But I also have a special place in my heart for Danny Elfman's "March of the Dead" from Army of Darkness.

Do you own any of the existing soundtracks in any way (like for example the new vinyl releases of Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness)?

I've never been much of a collector of Evil Dead stuff and I've long abandoned physical media when it comes to music. So my answer is no. I do, however, have the complete scores from all of the original trilogy films on my hard drive.

Any news about the soundtrack for AvED season 2 (if we're ever gonna get it, that is…)

No idea.

Do you have any favourite (horror) scores that are similar to the Evil Dead music or that you would recommend to an Evil Dead music fan?

Graeme Revell's From Dusk Till Dawn score always reminded me a bit of Joe Loduca's Evil Dead II score. It has a very similar vibe and it's pretty cool. But my absolute favorite horror score from the last decade or so is Christopher Young's score for our boy Sam Raimi's very own Drag Me to Hell.

What do you think about the pop/rock songs used in the TV show and what other songs would you like to hear in the following episodes?

I like them a lot and I've enjoyed the way they were incorporated into the show, but like I said on that other thread, I think they might have overused them a bit and I wish LoDuca's music was featured more prominently and got the spotlight it deserved - specially during the first season. What songs I'd like to hear in the following episodes? The songs always work better when they relate to the themes or the scene at hand and I like to be surprised by the choices, so I'll have to get back to you on that after I've had some more time to think about it.

 

[Muzzlehatch]

But my absolute favorite horror score from the last decade or so is Christopher Young's score for our boy Sam Raimi's very own Drag Me to Hell.

How could I forget that one? I think it's one of the creepiest movie scores I know

 

[Hurley]

Graeme Revell's From Dusk Till Dawn score always reminded me a bit of Joe Loduca's Evil Dead II score. It has a very similar vibe and it's pretty cool. But my absolute favorite horror score from the last decade or so is Christopher Young's score for our boy Sam Raimi's very own Drag Me to Hell.

Yes, the From Dusk Till Down music is great and very Evil Dead. I was really scared of it as a kid! But can you actually listen to something more than just those two or three tracks that are on the soundtrack (alongside with ZZ Top, Tito & Tarantula and such?).

I listened to Drag Me to Hell a long time ago and didn't care for it that much. But I'm giving it another shot right now!

 

[DyD]

Yes, the From Dusk Till Down music is great and very Evil Dead. I was really scared of it as a kid! But can you actually listen to something more than just those two or three tracks that are on the soundtrack (alongside with ZZ Top, Tito & Tarantula and such?).

I listened to Drag Me to Hell a long time ago and didn't care for it that much. But I'm giving it another shot right now!

What I love the most about the Drag Me to Hell score is how it sounds like it came from a classic horror film. It's not just a bunch of dissonant pieces, droning noises and background sounds as most modern horror scores. It's an actual symphonic score with actual memorable themes. I'm just thinking about it now and the main theme is already stuck in my head.

I'm really not sure if the full score for From Dusk Till Dawn has ever gotten an official album release, but you can find several tracks from it on YouTube. It lacks some of the melancholy from the Evil Dead II score, but I think the similarities on the more action driven tracks are there definitely on purpose.

 

[Hurley]

As @Kain has already reported on the website, the newly recorded soundtrack for the first Evil Dead from Joe LoDuca himself is out. Sadly, it has already been sold out on Mondo website (I managed to get my hands on it before it went away and hopefully it will arrive within 2-3 weeks), but you can listen to the whole album for example on Spotify. And it is AWESOME!

 

[Hurley]

OK, now this is very interesting. I'm listening to the album now and the last song on it is actually not from The Evil Dead, but from Army of Darkness!

I'm also not sure if I've ever heard the first song on the original soundtrack album, but I do know I've already heard it before. This track, or a variation on it, plays during the scene in the pilot episode of AvED when Ash explains to Pablo what went down 30 years ago.

This track is however not in any shape or form present on the AvED soundtrack, so maybe Joe just put it on this new release? Or is this track actually older than AvED and I just don't remember it?

 

[Guy]

That new album that Mondo have put out includes a whole side of brand new 're-imagined' score for The Evil Dead (essentially what would happen if he scored it now).

That's why it sounds familiar, but not familiar.

I managed to snag a copy on the release date and am looking forward to it. All I need now is the blue swirl Army of Darkness vinyl release that I can't find anywhere for less than like, £130 ($200)

 

[Hurley]

Nearly two months after ordering… it has finally arrived.

 

[Kain]

Wow time flies. It took that long to get it?

 

[Hurley]

Wow time flies. It took that long to get it?

As Elise said here, Mondo has the habit of saying they are "selling" something, when it's actually just a pre-order. So even though I ordered it two months ago, they actually shipped it just two weeks ago (which by itself isn't that bad).