All You Need is Death

All You Need is Death is the first cinematic soundtrack from Lankum’s Ian Lynch. The film of the same name from director Paul Duane (While You Live, Shine) follows the story of two young song collectors who find themselves caught up in hallucinatory horror after recording an ancient Irish ballad. It’s surprising that Lynch is only just now scoring his first film. His 2022 solo album …And Take the Black Worm With Me – released as One Leg One Eye – showcased the musician’s talent for blending Irish traditional styles with the kind of creeping drones and claustrophobic ambience that lend drama and impending doom to any OST. Alongside unsettling instrumental atmospherics, Lynch has also come up with the old Irish for the song at the centre of the film (Duane gave him the English lyrics with instructions to translate them). It materialises through the tracklisting with increasing mania, sung softly on ‘Feed the Swarm’ before wrapping itself in the distortion and doom of Lynch’s compositions and descending into a screaming deathmatch courtesy of Dublin band Malthusian on closer ‘Old God Rising’. Sublime sequencing from engineer James Trevascus and Invada Records’ own Redg Weeks further elevates this album from movie memorabilia to a stimulating standalone – a meta-anthology of traditional tunes that holds its listeners in thrall.