The Horror Master himself, John Carpenter, is back with a brand new album! Not just any album though. One, it’s a metal album and two, this one is designed as a fully immersive project, one that functions as both soundtrack and narrative engine to his forthcoming graphic novel Cathedral. To go along with the announcement of said album, Carpenter has released the first track entitled “Lord of the Underground,” along with a visualized video. Check it out for yourself below.
See also: 11 Of The Most Influential John Carpenter Horror Movies
Made with his frequent collaborators Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, each track on the album aligns with a chapter of the graphic novel, with liner notes guiding listeners through the story. The story unfolds much like a movie in that way and since the man who gave us Halloween and The Fog hasn’t directed a movie since 2010, this is as close as we’re going to get to a new John Carpenter joint. The album arrives in August just days after the graphic novel drops. In addition to the above tack, we've also got a preview of the book for you to check out below.
“It was so cinematic and vivid,” Carpenter says of the dream that inspired the story. “I thought, ‘I have to score this.’ It’s kind of our first heavy metal album.”
Inspired by said dream he had in 2024, the story centers on an abandoned church in downtown Los Angeles that shifts from a forgotten building to the site of a waking nightmare. After the killing of a police officer draws attention to the long-ignored cathedral, Lieutenant Christine Marks and detectives Paul Hernandez and Steve Mayfield are pulled into an investigation that leads them deep into its catacombs and toward a centuries-old evil imprisoned within.
“The story informed everything,” says longtime musical collaborator Daniel Davies of the album. “John would describe a scene and say, ‘We need a heavy riff here.’ We didn’t set out to make a metal record, but it evolved that way.” Carpenter previously worked with Davies and Cody Carpenter on the Lost Themes album series as well as the recent Halloween trilogy, not to mention multiple reworkings of Carpenter’s classic scores.
The Cathedral album was crafted to be listened to as one reads the graphic novel. However, as Carpenter explained, it was important to him that the music stand on its own. Which makes sense, given that he’s long scored his own movies and made a lot of music for music’s sake in recent years. Here’s what he had to say about it:
“That’s first and foremost. It’s all about making the music work. This is somewhat different sounding stuff that we've done, but it's done with the same desire in mind. In other words, put this thing on and imagine you're watching a movie. That’s what we want you to do.”
The graphic novel was written by Carpenter, in collaboration with his wife and long-time creative partner, producer and editor Sandy King, as well as writer Sean Sobczak. It was illustrated by Federico De Luca and Luis Guaragna, colored by Sian Mandrake and lettered by Marshall Dillon.
Cathedral the album, out on August 7, is being released by Sacred Bones and is available to pre-order/save now at JohnCarpenter.lnk.to/Cathedral. The graphic novel comes out on August 4 via Storm King Comics and is available for pre-order at JohnCarpentersCathedral.com.
