A Hammond Organ, a String Quartet, Bass and Drums .... what else do you need?
(1994 Press Release)
In an age of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and synthetic prophets, we offer one assurance: Symphony of Terror is the real thing. Symphony of Terror is the demonic brainchild of Evil Wilhelm and James "Filth" Collord, who first joined talents in the early '70s. The band is a celebration of the unholy duo's "obsession with all aspects of fear," what they lovingly term "the creative side of the dark."
Musically, Symphony of Terror highlights Evil Wilhelm's sardonic vocals and expertise in the percussive arts, as well as Filth's unique chord inversions and mastery of the bass. Their self-produced first album features a host of demonic ditties including "Grim Delight" which lustfully embraces the joyous beauty in all that is horrific, "Mad Love," inspired by the 1935 Peter Lorre movie about a crazed scientist obsessed with a Grange Guignol actress, and "Sea of Blood," an ode to despondency for tablas and vocal. The band boasts a live string section and symphonic percussion, as well as the haunting strains of the Lycanthropacord with veteran Hammond organ maestro Al Kooper on selected solos. In short, the experience is an aural feast that pays homage to such diverse influences as horror films, the occult, Bernard Herrmann, Jules Verne, Ed Roth, weaponry, and Edgar Allan Poe.
Symphony of Terror is a darkly created enterprise arising from the burned out ashes of an earlier Evil-Filth collaboration, the late, lamented, and sometimes reviled Radio Werewolf, whose bizarre stage shows shocked even the most decadent Angelenos. Following a farewell appearance in the Paul Bartel-Mary Woronov film Mortuary Academy, Wilhelm and James laid that band to rest and turned their talents to composing scores for the plays "Dracula Tyrannus: the Tragical History of Vlad the Impaler" and "Once Upon a Midnight: the Confessions of Edgar Allan Poe". More recently Wilhelm has leant his expertise in "true crime" to such films as Silence of the Lambs and Natural Born Killers. And now, the symphonic duo are poised to strike terror in every heart of the music industry with the first Symphony of Terror album.
In an age when so many pretenders scramble aboard the bloody bandwagon of serial killers, the occult and old horror icons, the stage is set for the re-emergence of the real thing: Symphony of Terror. "Whoever thought we'd end up mainstream?" muses Wilhelm.
SYMPHONY OF TERROR's "HAMZA DIES" and "HOTEL DE AMORE" were featured on the compilation GRIM VIEW OF THE FUTURE.
