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A Hip Hop Fan Listened To Opeth’s ‘Blackwater Park’ And Wrote Down His Thoughts: It’s Hilarious

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Reddit user SuiXcite is a self-professed hip hop and IDM, Chiptunes/Demoscene and Roots Music listener. He cites artists such Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar, as well as “…a lot of assorted underground artists.”

Well, SuiXcite decided to take the plunge on listening to some metal. He then proceeded to narrow it down to, “…Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Opeth. I chose Opeth because I knew the least about them, and I felt adventurous.” Choosing Blackwater Park as his album for the evening, he put it on and started recurring his thoughts for each song. I don’t know why but I found them absolutely hilarious!

Below are his thoughts on the opening track, “The Leper Affinity”. If you get as much of a kick out of it as I did, head on over to this Reddit thread to read his thoughts on the other tracks.

Pre-Start: Wow, metal songs are long. I’m seeing like, 5-10 minute songs here. Are they all like this? I thought Joe Budden (rapper) was ballsy for having one 10 minute long song. Damn.
The Leper Affinity:
(0:00) – OH GOD OH GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING. There’s this “dread chord” type sound playing and it won’t stop getting louder I’m scared maybe I should turn down my head-
(0:29) SHIT, that’s loud.
(0:30) I’m liking the sound of this. The vocals come in, and I’m pleasantly surprised. The vocals aren’t necessarily harsh or grating. Then again, one of the most vocally grating bands I have listened to “regularly” (moderately listened to Pandora station) is Every Time I Die. I was told they were “mathcore” or something though. This is also produced/mastered pretty well.
(1:25) I don’t really understand what’s happening, but I like it. I’m going to turn the volume up. That’s what I’m supposed to do right? I’ve got Hifiman HE-400s. They can handle this.
(3:17) It’s kinda weird being only a third of the way through the song at this point, but on the other hand I don’t feel like the song should be over.
(4:15) I’m loving the instrumental breaks. I’ve always likened metal to a sort of “classical, technical mentality”+hard rock kind of sound from what little I had heard from it. I’m definitely getting that vibe, but it doesn’t feel over done or pretentious. This is really good.
(4:48) Holy shit I had to pause. There’s actual singing happening here. I wasn’t expecting that after the growling. It’s pretty awesome though, this guy is a great vocalist, and I love the acoustic-sounding guitar interlude he’s singing over.
(5:39) This phrase feels so strong, so moving, I’m getting the feeling of being in a strange place, and something serious is going down. Like, people are dying. Then again, this is called “The Leper Affinity”.
(8:24) The layering of instruments that’s happening here is fucking amazing.
(9:00) Dat piano tho. Things are calming down. Maybe “I”, or whoever can stop running, maybe I’m falling asleep. I picture a kind of grey, cell-like room. Comfortable, cozy but still a sense of dread. Wait. Am I dying? Fuck, I better not be dying.

Managing editor/music guy/social media fella of Bloody-Disgusting

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‘Lost Themes IV: Noir’ – John Carpenter Announces New Album & Releases New Music Video!

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Lost Themes IV
(l-r) Cody Carpenter, John Carpenter, Daniel Davies - Photo Credit: Sophie Gransard

John Carpenter has been teasing big news for a couple weeks now and all has been revealed this morning. Carpenter is back with Lost Themes IV: Noir from Sacred Bones Records!

Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.

John Carpenter called the first Lost Themes album “a soundtrack for the movies in your mind.”

From John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, Lost Themes IV: Noir is set for release on May 3 via Sacred Bones Records. The album pays tribute to Noir cinema!

In conjunction with the announcement, they’ve shared a music video for the album’s first single, “My Name Is Death”, a miniature noir film directed by Ambar Navarro, starring Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood), Staz Lindes (The Paranoyds) and Misha Lindes (SadGirl). “Noir is a uniquely American genre born in post-war cinema,” states Carpenter. “ We grew up loving Noir and were influenced by it for this new album. The video celebrates this style and our new song, My Name is Death.”

Sacred Bones previews, “The scene-setting new single marks new territory for Carpenter and his cohorts, propelled by a driving post-punk bassline that is embellished by washes of atmospheric synth, pulsing drum machine, and, at the song’s climax, a smoldering guitar solo.”

“Sandy [King, John’s wife and producer] had given John a book for Christmas, of pictures from noir films, all stills from that era,” Davies says of the lightbulb moment for Lost Themes IV. “I was looking through it, and I thought, ‘I like that imagery, and what those titles make me think of. What if we loosely based it around that? What if the titles were of some of John’s favorite noir films?’ Some of the music is heavy guitar riffs, which is not in old noir films. But somehow, it’s connected in an emotional way.”

Sacred Bones notes, “Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes the songs on Lost Themes IV ‘noirish’ is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone. The noir quality, then, is something you understand instinctively when you hear it.”

“It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that became the initial Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts,” the label explains. “Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. In the years since, Carpenter, Carpenter, and Davies have released close to a dozen musical projects, including a growing library of studio albums and the scores for David Gordon Green’s trilogy of Halloween reboots. It helped that they grew up in a musical environment. Daniel’s dad is The Kinks’ Dave Davies, and he would pop by the L.A. studio – the same one the Lost Themes records are made in today – to jam, or to perform at wrap parties for John’s films. That innate free-flowing chemistry helps Lost Themes IV: Noir run like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”

Here’s the full Lost Themes IV: Noir track list:

1. My Name is Death
2. Machine Fear
3. Last Rites
4. The Burning Door
5. He Walks By Night
6. Beyond The Gallows
7. Kiss The Blood Off My Fingers
8. Guillotine
9. The Demon’s Shadow
10. Shadows Have A Thousand Eyes

The following physical variants will be available:

  • Sacred Bones Exclusive Red on Clear Splatter vinyl w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Silver Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Sacred Bones Society Exclusive on Black and White Splatter on Clear w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Silver Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • All retail Transparent Red, with a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Indie Exclusive Tan and Black Marble, w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Rough Trade Exclusive Oxblood Red and Black Splatter, w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Shout Exclusive Black and Clear cloudy, w/ Screen Printed 7” bonus track “Black Cathedral”, a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • Black LP, with a Gold Foil Stamped Jacket and poster.
  • CD
  • Tape

You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now!

Lost Themes IV Noir

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