OGRE and Dallas Campbell
All Hallows’ II
(Independent)
4/5
The fourth collaboration between the UK’s OGRE and West Virginia’s Dallas Campbell is a synth soundtrack to a non-existent horror film, and it’s quite the interesting experience.
The release comes with a booklet that details the events of the would-be movie. Combined with the excellent synth-based sound it creates an appropriately eerie atmosphere. However, the soundtrack format carries with it some inherent problems: excellent melodies end too quickly, with only two of the 24 songs breaking three minutes, seemingly to keep pace with the booklet, or at least the soundtrack format.
Quality is steady throughout the album—the synths are put to good use and create strong momentum, and themes continue from track to track, making a strong overall arc, although certain tracks don’t work when separated from the whole.
This album excels at what it attempts to do, but be sure to give the booklet a read to get the most out of it.