“Machiavellian heavy, dark prog…
A phenomenal performance of incredible caliber... wow!”
- ProgMontreal
“Captivating live audiences with their drop-dead gorgeous, gut-wrenching music.”
- Montreal Mirror
ORCO MUTO are an exciting new power trio, performing music in the progressive/horror genre. The group is comprised of keyboardist:
MAURIZIO GUARINI (of legendary Italian horror soundtrack band GOBLIN), drummer: GREAT BOB SCOTT, and bassist: CHRIS GARTNER (rhythm section of the infamous Canadian group LOOK PEOPLE). The individual members have worked with some of the top names in progressive music, including Keith Emerson(ELP), Mark Hewins(Gong), and Damo Suzuki (Can)
Concert reviews:
Hell is behind that door - Montreal Mirror
ORCO MUTO brings classic horror soundtracks back from the dead, with Goblin’s Maurizio Guarini and giallo scream queen Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni
INSPIRING TERROR: Orco Muto
By LORRAINE CARPENTER
Fans of director Dario Argento have the music of Goblin branded on their brains forever. The opening strains of 1975’s Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) and, moreover, the theme song for 1977’s Suspiria, lent an integral edge to these classic films, matching both the beauty and vibrancy of Argento’s mise en scène and the terrifying character of his supernatural slasher stories.
Keyboardist Maurizio Guarini joined Goblin following the success of Deep Red, when the band was expanded to take their show on the road. Conveniently, Goblin’s approach to progressive rock matched his own natural inclination towards styles such as jazz fusion. The band strove to sidestep the horror soundtrack status quo—essentially “dissonant strings,” according to Guarini—still under the influence of Bernard Herrmann’s landmark score for 1960’s Psycho. For Suspiria, Goblin tapped into contemporary rock and even disco for inspiration, along with one particular precedent from the world of horror soundtracks.
“There are certain rules that drive the spectator to be sad or happy—minor chords for sadness and major chords for happiness,” says Guarini. “There are some experiments that musicians do to go around these rules. In horror films, the first was maybe Mike Oldfield, when he did The Exorcist. That arpeggio was totally different from what was expected. It was a new way to inspire terror in people.”
A similar technique was used to fearsome effect in Suspiria, though the addition of a nauseating pulse and demonic, breathy vocals pushed the horror quotient to new heights. To prepare, the band was invited to spend time on the set as the film was being shot, and receive some musical guidance from Argento himself.
“Like other directors, he’s very emotional,” says Guarini. “So you propose something and you immediately see whether he likes it or not. He was definitely helping us to find the right way.”
Always dying by the same hand
The members of Goblin went on to score significant horror films such as George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead in 1978 and Argento’s Tenebre in 1982, as well as release non-soundtrack albums together and separately, most recently a 2006 reunion LP entitled BacktotheGoblin.
As ORCO MUTO, the trio have written some original material and, with a fellow legend of Italian horror at their side, actress and singer Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, are captivating live audiences with their drop-dead gorgeous, gut-wrenching music.
“Goblin music, in particular Deep Red and Suspiria, has always felt like the way I sounded and still sound to myself inside my brain,” says Cataldi-Tassoni. At the age of only 16, she debuted in Lamberto Bava’s Demons 2, and went on to appear in several Argento films, from 1987’s Opera to the director’s latest, Mother of Tears, concluding the “Three Mothers” trilogy that began with Suspiria.
The actress is a good friend of Goblin founder Claudio Simonetti, who recently co-directed her in a short film called The Dirt (with his sister Simona), in which Cataldi-Tassoni continues to explore thrills and chills, and cruel and unusual punishment.
“Dying by my own guts and a medieval torture device bashed and blossoming in my mouth can be a little more painful than a pair of scissors jammed in one’s mouth,” she says, commenting on the range of torture she’s suffered on celluloid. “But I always die by the same hand. That is always a constant.”
The actress has a music career all her own, having recently released a CD entitled Limbo Balloon. She and ORCO MUTO have incorporated one of her songs into their set, and despite the contrast between her experiments in pop and their sonic formula for fear, she sees a natural, maybe supernatural unity.
“My music reflects more my own sensibilities,” she explains, “but since I will be performing one of my own pieces and participating in pieces I have loved and listened to since childhood, in some way it all still reflects me. It’s thrilling for me because I love horror soundtracks with a groove, that have a sense of elegance and compulsion. Obviously, Suspiria’s theme is a must.”
Probably the most anticipated performance of the evening, Toronto trio Orco Muto features:
Maurizio Guarini, keyboardist from the legendary Italian band Goblin
and the rhythm section of the canadian "metal / jazz " band Look People,
Chris Gartner on bass and the wild and zany Great Bob Scott on drums.
Bob arrived onstage dressed in a white body suit and bowler hat, familiarized by Malcom McDowell in the movie A Clockwork Orange.
They made their international debut performance at the 2007 Rue Morgue Festival of Fear. Joined by special guest Coralinia Cataldi-Tassoni, they were an instant success! Additional performances at Rue Morgue's Mask of the Red Death extravaganza, Montreal's Club Soda, the Electric Eclectics Festival, and Ottawa's Progtoberfest have cemented the group as a "must see" live act.
ORCO MUTO perform a combination of original music and classic GOBLIN tracks with a unique 21st century vibe.
An album of original material is in the works as well as additional performances at select Progressive Rock festivals,
and Horror events.
The group is written up in Fabio Capuzzo's Italian language book:
GOBLIN seven notes in red
ELEGANCE AND COMPULSION:
Cataldi-Tassoni
Last year, with Guarini conveniently based in Toronto, the people at
Rue Morgue magazine’s Festival of Fear commissioned a performance of Goblin classics, spurring Guarini to assemble a new band with
Chris Gartner and Great Bob Scott, formerly of Toronto’s Look People.
Machiavellian heavy, dark prog; the band played mostly classic Goblin material including Zombi, Tenebrae, Dr. Frankenstein, Dawn of the Dead, Profondo Rosso, Suspiria, and with a few new compositions, including:
Bone Slurry and Black Dog. The three amigos kept quite busy onstage,
from Maurizio's soaring church organ solos, to Bob's crazy percussion antics while wearing a creature of the lagoon mask, to Chris' eerie synthethized bass tones.
A phenomenal performance of incredible caliber... wow!
You couldn't find a better band to go with the theme of Progtoberfest!
