Just in time for Halloween is our review of Cucurbitophobia’s new horror movie-like soundtrack, As All Eyes Set Upon You.
So (like most people) you’re wondering what’s Cucurbitophobia have to do with Halloween?
According to the Urban Dictionary, and some mainstream dictionaries, Cucurbitophobia literally means the fear of pumpkins. Without doing deep-dive research, it is not really known the origin of this fear and how it came to be that it got a name attached to it. There is no Wikipedia entry for the term, which was a little surprising.
It apparently originated from a fear some people have that pumpkins, or more specifically, jack-o-lanterns, will come alive and haunt them. (I say cool, bring it on – haven’t seen it happen yet).
Usually, we do not review neo-classical and dark ambient, but in this case, because of the terrific work by the man behind the moniker, New York composer and musician, Rob Benny, and because it fits the season.
Benny creates exclusively “horror-themed instrumental music.” Granted, it is not everyone’s go-to music genre, but when it’s Halloween season, who cares if there are no vocals? Benny mixes influences that include dark ambient, avant-garde and modern classical genres.
His new album, As All Eyes Set Upon You, sounds like the soundtrack for a modern-day horror movie.
Cucurbitophobia’s music is thrilling, chilling, and delightfully creepy. The album is full of compositions “that seek to use music and sound effects to represent ghosts, vampires, aliens, spells, and other scary creatures,” he says.
“While many artists who create instrumental tracks endeavor to express emotion with the different textures, tonalities, and timings of the notes,” he says, “perhaps none do it as well as ambient neo-classical avant-garde compositions.” Including his own.
The musically educated artist possesses a deft command over his soundscapes and the ability to orchestrate a soundscape that envelops you with each rhythmic pulse.
The opening track, “The Ominous Mansion on Oak Road,” is a sad piano composition backed by weeping violins in the neo-classical tradition. It really is music that you would expect to hear in a Hollywood film score. As the six-minute piece progresses the tone of the piano keys becomes more ominous.
Something tragic has happened.
Something unforsaken has rained down upon the mansion on Oak Road. It is the saddest and darkest day on Oak Road, and the mystery only grows. What happened? Do we dare allow rumors to start to swirl? Does one dare look further? Someone is roaming the dark halls of the mansion on the hill.
Next, “As the Sun Sets, She Emerges from the Ashes,” raises the stakes. Accompanied now by blistering guitars from Nicholas Pappalardo, the mood and atmosphere have become even more intense, even more horrific.
The chilling composition, “Evoking Unexplainable Forces,” lays down some evil-sounding effects that sound a bit like a chain saw until the unsettling guitar sounds commands. Following that piece is the fast-moving piano composition, “The Book Bound by Blood and Bones.”
By the midpoint of the album, the track “Spellbinding” comes into play with a sadder, more sentimental needling through the piano keys followed by the horror-movie creepiness of “They Dwell in the Fourth Dimension,” which almost feels like your walking through a dimly-lighted haunted house. (Oh scrap! I think I just saw the little girl with the white dress)
As the album begins to wind down to its conclusion, in comes the cinematic-like “Invaded By Visitors from the Andromeda” with its hard edges and heavy beats, gongs and concurrent organ riffs, creating a visual of a blackened, scorn sonic landscape.
The mood becomes more reflective now, as is the case on the appropriately creepy, “The Amulet and the Mausoleum” – which is a return to the earlier parts of the album in which the piano and strings guide the way. This is probably the most somber track.
Into the home stretch comes the horror movie-sounding title: “The Decrepit Porcelain Doll.” The piece itself is wavy, unorganized and confusing – perhaps connoting the delirium that sets in after a sustained period of being ultimately stressed with terror and totally freaked out.
The album ends with the swirling piano and guitar riffs, along with other sound effects of “Requiem,” which is probably the least scary and creepy track on the album.
All in all, As All Eyes Set Upon You is a perfect fit for Halloween event, party or just sitting in your house, and freaking out that someone with bad intent is outside looking in – or maybe they’re already in the house.