A coven of witches? An orgy? Sadomasochism ("sadeness" as in the Marquis de Sade)? Or all of the above? These are associations your mind may conjure up over the 1991 "US Violent" house remix of "Sadeness" by Enigma. Tortured male cries, ecstatic female groans, a touch of heavy metal, whips and chains (or did I imagine that?) and a Gregorian chant as the grounding vocal. While Gregorian chants can sound elevatingly spiritual, they can also sound mysteriously frightening; face it, they're not the sound of The Vienna Boys Choir. Horror films like "Horror Hotel" (originally "City of the Dead" in the UK, pictured above) and "The Omen" (Jerry Goldsmith's theme music) have modeled the sounds of cinematic evil incantations on the Gregorian chants. And, so, appropriate to this time of year, when the gates between the living and the dead, between hell and earth, open, and mayhem is all around until the arrival of All Saints Day, here is Enigma and their international club hit from '91 that went #1 on the Billboard dance chart and #5 on the Top 100, defining the sound of demonic debauchery for my Halloween Countdown.
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