Orchestral and Spooky Compositional Tour de Force

Dee Snider, of Twisted Sister fame, has managed to put together a rather notable concept album with this latest project. Inspired by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Van Helsing's Curse sets out to impart upon the listener a creepy Halloween experience mixed with dark and formidable classical selections, and they indeed achieve their goal. Van Helsing's Curse combines electronic elements with crunching guitars, operatic vocals (including a choir singing in Latin), unnerving sound effects, and well-known classical music to create some outstanding compositional medleys that manage to be spooky, orchestral, and powerful all at the same time.

Some highly recognizable pieces included are "Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky, "Night on Bald Mountain" by Musgorski, "Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Greig, "Funeral March" by Chopin, "Moonlight Sonata" by Beethoven, and "Carmina Burana." Also included are "Ave Satani" from the movie "The Omen," as well as "Tubular Bells" from the movie "The Exorcist," which any fan of the horror genre can appreciate. Black Sabbath's self-titled song is also revamped and has its place on this album.

Woven into these classical masterpieces, however, is a somewhat cheesy story involving a child whose innocence is to lift a demonic curse (referred to only as "it" or "the entity") placed on the Van Helsing family. Furthermore, Dee Snider's narration comes off as being overly dramatic and extremely contrived, cheapening the listening experience to some extent. In fact, the music really could have stood quite well on it's own.

Paltry story line aside, the masterful musical arrangements make this CD well worth a listen, particularly on a cold, dark Halloween night. It will be interesting to see what Van Helsing's Curse comes up with next, as they improve upon these well-laid foundations. Overall, "Oculus Infernum" is an outstanding melding of 80's style heavy metal with classical compositions. Van Helsing's Curse has created a savory blend of fierce and unsettling music that has earned its place as a soundtrack for Halloween.

Four out of Five Stars