By Gregory S. Burkart
To anyone who frequents these pages, this band probably requires no introduction. But for the sake of journalistic propriety, I'll break it down for you. Founded by Claudio Simonetti, one of the core members of legendary Italian progressive-rock band Goblin, Daemonia was initially created as a platform for interpreting music from the films of Dario Argento in a bold, dangerous and exciting new way ? through the naturally complimentary styles of symphony orchestra, opera and good old fashioned heavy metal.

Their debut 1999 release, appropriately titled Dario Argento Tribute, was an international success that breathed unholy fire into the surreal and chilling works of Goblin, bringing them to a whole new generation and kicking off a series of manic live performances that continue to garner media attention and critical acclaim. The energy of these shows is captured in their concert CD Live... Or Dead and the subsequent DVD release Live In Los Angeles, and nearly a decade after their inception, they forge on relentlessly into the night, with a slate of new shows in 2008, hit single ?Mater Lacrimarum? (with vocals by UK metal icon Dani Filth), and a brand new album tentatively scheduled for release this April.

As if that weren't enough, several band members are also involved in projects of their own: Bassist Federico Amorosi has founded a new alt-rock unit entitled Jesus Was Homeless [check 'em out on Myspace]. Drummer Titta Tani, already known for his stick-work with gore-drenched metal monsters Necrophagia, has his own prog-metal band Astra, in which he serves as lead singer. And of course Simonetti recently scored The Third Mother, Argento's final chapter of a trilogy that began in 1977 with Suspiria... and he's also reinterpreted Dario's giallo classic Profondo Rosso (Deep Red)... as a musical!

I recently had the chance to check in with Amorosi, who was gracious enough to offer our readers some intriguing glimpses of the sinister delights to come...

FEARnet: Tell us about the new album. Will this be a studio project, or a live performance?

Amorosi: A studio project. We have a lots of material, and we are working on the right sound... it'll be all original stuff; no Goblin arrangements.

Can you tell us what the new stuff will sound like?

This new material will sound quite like the last single, "Mater Lacrimarum.? Metal sound, orchestra arrangements, melody and horror.

Speaking of the single, how did Dani come to be involved with it?

When we started writing ?Mater Lacrimarum,? we wanted a sort of evil singing, a witch voice, and we thought that no one but Dani Filth could sing it... so our management wrote to him, and he was extremely excited about the project, because he's a Dario Argento fan.

What was the recording session like?

Unfortunately, we didn't have a session together; we sent him the track, and he wrote the lyrics and sang the song.

Has Dani ever performed live with Daemonia?

At the moment we have never performed live together, but he did suggest to us to make a video with him for ?Mater Lacrimarum.?

I'd love to see that. So do you plan on collaborating with other artists on the new album, or on future projects?

Yes, we would like to involve some other artists... a female soprano singer, a Black Metal singer... we'll see.

I hear that Daemonia has recorded a new arrangement of Goblin's original Zombi: Dawn of the Dead score. Why did you decide to revisit that score in its entirety?

We have always loved Zombi, so when they [Alan Young Pictures] decided to make a box-set of 4 DVD's and a CD, Claudio Simonetti, who did the Goblin score, suggested rearranging the soundtrack to make it a more ?actual? sound. They totally agreed, so we started to rearrange Zombi.

Is this new soundtrack also available separately?

I think it is available online... but you can also find it with our Live in Los Angeles DVD, on our website.

Did I hear right that Claudio recently turned Profondo Rosso into a musical? Is it performed with an orchestra, or is the music more rock-based?

All the music was written and performed by Claudio: keyboards, guitars, bass... it's quite a rock opera.

How much of the original Goblin score is in the opera, and how much new material did he write?

There are very few parts of the original score, just the main theme and the child singing.

Will a CD or a DVD of this opera be available?

Probably it'll be released as a CD ? the entire opera.

I've seen so many positive reviews of Daemonia shows in metal magazines over the past few years... do you think the band's reputation got a boost from the rising popularity of progressive rock and metal?

We've been playing together for 10 years, and [during that time] progressive metal has always been alive. In the last 3 years we've had a lot more gigs than ever before, but that comes from the fact that our fans have started to see Daemonia as a real band, and not a Goblin cover band.

That being said, I'm betting most of our readers probably know about Daemonia because they grew up hearing Goblin's music in films. Would you say that most your fans were already into Goblin, or did they first experience Daemonia's songs and later become interested in the Goblin versions?

If you come to our concerts, you can find the Goblin fans that love the old stuff and like to hear those songs live. But most of the [audience] are young guys who don't know about Goblin, but through our live performances and CD's start loving Goblin too.

Daemonia's musical output pays homage to horror cinema, so it would be a natural fit for the band to score an entire film with new material. Would you be interested in doing a full score if you had the opportunity?

For DAEMONIA, The Third Mother was a very important step in our career. It gave us a big opportunity, and Dario liked our song very much! If there will be a good opportunity to make an entire score, we are ready!