In 1970, the heady, care-free days of the sixties were already a distant memory in the horror film world; British horror in particular took on a distinctly sideways glance at life and history, what was considered twee, naive and inconsequential was now dark, mysterious and cursed. Piers Haggard‘s The Blood on Satan’s Claw - also known as Satan’s Skin – followed quickly on from the sentiments and pastoral bleakness of Witchfinder General, both exercises in the futility of Man against nature and fate.
The soundtrack to The Blood on Satan’s Claw was composed by French-born Australian Marc Wilkinson, already having made a name for himself a couple of years earlier with his score to Lindsay Anderson’s If…. On the surface, his score for ‘Claw’ is exactly as you’d expect [though much lovelier] – gentle drifts of woozy woodwind and the early electronic instrument, the ondes martenot. However, the sound of ‘Claw’ features something far more sinister, something that elevates it, perhaps, to being the most horrible of all horror soundtracks.
Since the earliest of times, music has moved humankind and featured heavily in all aspects of divinity and worship. By the 11th Century, great importance was placed upon sacred music and the meanings of melodies and methods of creating it. Following along this train of thought, there was also that which was forbidden; primary amongst these was the ‘tritone’ – a musical interval which spans three whole tones – perhaps what we would write today as C and F# or as augmented fourths or diminished fifths.
The sound is one of dissonance – not displeasurably, as it may suggest but neck-twistingly alluring and intriguing. Indeed, the theory behind the banning of such a creation by the Church was that it may take the singers, players or listeners of such a sound closer than Man may ever be to God…or otherwise. It was called ‘Diabolus in Musica’; ‘the Devil’s music’ or ‘the Devil’s chord’.
Though shunned and reviled in the Middle Ages – the earliest references go back to the 9th Century – there was enough fear and suspicion around it that torture would be employed against practitioners in some instances, even by the 18th Century it was being used with dubious dedication – baroque composer and violinist Giuseppe Tartini’s most famous work, the notoriously difficult to play ‘Devil’s Trill Sonata’ was explained by the composer as having being taught to him by Satan himself. Tartini’s rumoured six fingered hand was a possible explanation as to his proficiency in playing it; the tritone made a big return in the 19th Century, used almost exclusively to create a feeling of foreboding and overriding evil; Richard Wagner and Camille Saint-Saens were fond of utilising it. Though now not banned in any sense, the effect it had was still to unsettle any audience.
Wilkinson’s use in his score was to use a descending chromatic scale as the main theme – this was nothing new, as previously seen, a descending scale had been used since the earliest horror scores to signify a descent into musical and visual Hell. Wilkinson’s trick was to omit the perfect fifth, the one note needed to create stability to the scale; in turn, this highlighted the diminished fifth – it sounds wrong, as if you’ve missed a step whilst walking down the stairs or your finger has hit the wrong key at the end of typing a word. There’s something incomplete about it, something fundamentally at odds with what we have been attuned to accept…and yet, it’s perfect.
Devil’s Note as played on guitar
The Devil’s Interval is used in popular culture regularly now; everything from The Simpsons’ theme tune to Black Sabbath’s self-titled song employ it but ‘Claw’ stands as one of the most poignant. A perfect marriage of the conventional and the dysfunctional, there could scarcely be a better backing to any film, Linda Hayden’s lascivious minx versus Patrick Wymark’s puritan fear, all wrapped up in a curious, entrancing yet truly damned score. Bravo, Satan.
Article by Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia
Sold out soundtrack CD still available to buy from Amazon.co.uk resellers
