MP3: Nightsatan - Karelian Starmaster (Evil Lucifer)
If you've seen any John Carpenter films, you know that his soundtracks are often just as memorable as the visuals. Even the most dated-sounding of his works is still evocative, so it's no surprise that many artists would attempt to emulate him and Finland's Nightsatan is a fine example of one such act. Of course the Carpenter worship is just a starting point -- "Karelian Starmaster" will certainly have you thinking "Escape from New York", but it's plenty epic in its own right, moving through various tension-building arpeggios before resolving with a depressive final coda. Also, according to the label, the band performs everything live including the synthpad drums which I must say is pretty cool considering the ease with which this kind of music can be pre-canned.
Nightsatan - Karelian Starmaster (Evil Lucifer)