When I first heard that Dee Snider was behind some sort of new Halloween themed CD I was instantly on board. The first album I ever owned as a young lad was Twisted Sister's Stay Hungry. To this day I break out my Twisted Sister albums from time to time and it seems as if I was one of the few supporters of Strangland upon its initial (if all too brief) theatrical release. The fact of the matter is that I love Dee Snider and am willing to dig into just about anything that this man is involved with. This brings us to Van Helsing's Curse: A Soundtrack for Halloween scheduled to be released by KOCH Records on October 7th. Since they're calling this the "debut album" entitled Oculus Infernum , we can only wonder if future volumes could be far behind. The album itself is an odd and exciting mix, I had no idea what to expect, but upon inserting this CD into my computer at work, I found that not only did I listen to it until quitting time, but I also popped this puppy into my car and home CD players as well. Snider says that he wants Oculus Infernum to be "The Soundtrack For Halloween" and while some may view this as a pretentious statement, I'll have to give credit where credit is due. This CD is spooky as hell and kicks fucking ass while taking names, let's check it out.

The idea behind Oculus Infernum is to tell a story (which was written and is narrated by Snider himself) through words, sound effects and music. Intentions are to have a traveling stage show complete with live musicians, costumes and special effects; I think this is a great idea, sign me up. The basic premise of Oculus Infernum entails some sort of entity that has touched down and is wreaking havoc, a descendant of Van Helsing (of Dracula fame, as if you didn't know) is then brought forth to help put an end to the bloodshed. I have to be honest here, while I did dig Snider's narration and I feel that it lends a real thematic hand to the proceedings, the actual narration itself was the weakest link in the production. This is a minor complaint at best and to be honest, I could just be grasping at straws for something negative to say here, because for the most part, this CD should and will satisfy those looking for some truly creepy, yet rocking musical accompaniment for some spooky times.

The CD itself features 10 tracks and as the press release states, features an 18-piece orchestra. Featured tracks include a reworking of such horror classics as the theme to The Omen and the too often reworked Tubular Bells from The Exorcist . In addition, we have quite a few spooky classical pieces on display that have been reworked as well along with Black Sabbath's self titled song, Black Sabbath. Each of the ten tracks blend beautifully together with smooth transitions, and like any well-developed concept album, each track works independently or as a whole.

The real joy of Oculus Infernum has to be how well each of these familiar tracks has been reworked. Not since Claudio Simonetti's (of Goblin fame) Adventures in Horror have I been so excited about the re-imagining of classic scare tunes. We're truly rocking in a horrific way with demonic choirs (singing in Latin only) electric guitars, classic strings, drums, you name it. It's never cheesy, always fun, this CD is what it promises, a soundtrack to be enjoyed for Halloween. Recommended.