For a brief time in the early 80s, cinema was awash with sword and sorcery flicks – some of which were so spectacularly bad they made absolute stinkers like Hawk The Slayer or The Sword & The Sorceror look like the works of Andrei Tarkovsky. There were a few exceptions however – the John Milius-helmed first Conan film, Krull and the first Beastmaster along with long-lost 1980 film short Black Angel. And it is hopefully the latter – perhaps mixed with Terry Gilliam-esque trappings which Cantrips had in mind when coming up with The King Slumbers – a, “70s-inspired score to an imagined fantasy heist in which a band of gnomes creep through the throne room of Dune Castle to steal a manuscript hidden beneath a sleeping king.” Gnomes you say? Presumably not the ceramic ones with pointy red hats and something more like the warlike creatures of Terry Brooks Shannara-series? Cue a retro synthesizer loop which weaves stealthily around and gradually incorporates some subtle percussion which briefly drops out before returning with greater deliberation. Much like the gnomes, one suspects…
(Out now on Dune Castle Records)
