Daemonia Live Review: part 2, the history continues...

Artist: Daemonia
Date of Show: November 9th, 2002/ Progwest
Reviewed by: Elias Granillo Jr

DAEMONIA Part 2: The History continued...

Never one to rest on his laurels, Simonetti has been busy: in 2000, he released Dario Argento Tribute under the pseudonym DAEMONIA, Along with bassist Federico Amorosi, drummer Titta Tani, and guitarist Nicola Di Staso, Claudio performed electrifying versions of popular tracks from the Goblin backcatalog; the usual suspects include "Profondo Rosso," "Suspiria," "Zombi," "L'alba Dei Morte Viventi (Dawn Of The Dead)," Keith Emerson's Inferno theme and "Mater Tenebrarum," and even two stately themes by world-renowed film composer Ennio Morricone, "La Sindrome di Stendhal Theme" and "Sospiri E Sospiri"-the latter from The Phantom Of The Opera.

Last year saw a second release from Daemonia, this time a live album, Live.Or Dead. This excellent recording showcases a quartet-now with new guitarist Bruno Previtali-who ably demonstrate how truly exciting Goblin's music is. The new versions come off much edgier and more 'metallic' due to the bite Previtali's guitar supplies. Indeed, the three musicians Simonetti has gathered about him hail from stints in Italian metal bands. Claudio surely knew what he was looking for, because Daemonia possibly perform Goblin's music better than the original quartet! Live.Or Dead is essentially live versions of Dario Argento Tribute (in sequence!) with a couple of short intros added to "Suspiria" and "Profondo Rosso" (plus three new studio tracks: versions of "Halloween," "Tubular Bells," and "Gamma").

Reviewed by Elias Granillo Jr. for ProgNaut.com on November 18th, 2002