3 out of 5

Label: Library of the Occult

Produced by: Neil Scrivin (?)

The second lathe cut in “a monthly series of haunting sounds to accompany the reading of Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror classic DRACULA.”

As with Part 1, while we have some fantastic cover art – a pretty haunting skull, printed in the grim relief of an old school horror mag – that look simply doesn’t sync with the very electronic music of the contents, and doubly so in trying to map those electronics to something from the late 1800s. And again as with Part 1 – and Library of the Occult in general – I recognize that shouldn’t matter if the music works, but if the themes are part of the shtick… then it should matter, no?

Which leaves me to qualify the songs here along those lines: how they work for Dracula, and how good the music is on its own terms.

To the latter – these songs are great. The Night Monitor, for me, has often lacked some impact just due to its narrative style “requiring” some low points on albums that don’t grab me. Here, though, boiled down to singles, the tracks are perfectly atmospheric: hazy, creepy, drone-like synthwave. It’s just enough to creep into yer bones without being overt with stylistic touches. To the former, though, we’re again stuck on this stuff not being the best fit for an 1897 story – it’s nowhere near organic sounding enough for that. B-side’s Log Of The Demeter gets closer, bound to a central sound of a ringing bell, but it’s electronic layers still prevent it from sounding right overall. However, it would work for something a few decades later, like a 70s or 80s flick.

These factors balance us out to a 3-star ranking, even if, out of context, the songs are much better than that.