Spiritual Front’s Simone H. Salvatori on Music, Cinema, and Art

Simone H. Salvatori, frontman of the Italian band Spiritual Front, discusses his multifaceted career spanning music, film, and photography. Founded in Rome in 1999, Spiritual Front blends neo-folk, gothic, and pop influences, using projections of films by Pasolini, Leone, Fassbinder, and Scorsese in concerts. Salvatori, nicknamed 'Hellvis,' also leads industrial pop project The Lust Syndicate and dark ambient Morgue Ensemble, which includes a book of corpse photographs reflecting his work as a thanato-aesthetician. The band’s latest album, The Queen is Not Dead (2023), is an orchestral cover of The Smiths’ The Queen is Dead. In 2026, Spiritual Front will reissue their 2006 album Armageddon Gigolo, recorded with musicians from Ennio Morricone’s orchestra, with a European tour. Salvatori defines art as 'a necessary deception to make the soul’s beauty tangible' and music as 'the vehicle to live forever.' He cites The Winner Takes It All by ABBA as his funeral song. Upcoming projects include releases for Morgue Ensemble and The Lust Syndicate, plus new Spiritual Front studio sessions.