Music
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett Recorded Horror-Themed Music During the Pandemic: “They’re Like Movies”
Metallica is one of the busiest bands in the world and even the pandemic hasn’t stopped them from working feverishly. While the band has been working on new music over the past several months, guitarist Kirk Hammett, a known horror movie enthusiast, has been writing and recording his own solo project.
Loudwire caught wind of an interview with Hammett in Metallica’s fan club magazine “So What!” in which the guitarist revealed that he has been collaborating with Edwin Outwater, who composed the S&M2 live performance, on some horror-themed instrumental songs.
“I recorded those tracks with Edwin, a small chamber orchestra and some other musicians,” Hammett reveals, adding that there are four total tracks, two of which were in collaboration with Outwater. Hammett had particularly strong thoughts about these pieces, notes the site, adding that Hammet exclaimed that they “feel like the best fucking things I’ve ever done.”
“One of them is called ‘High Plains Drifter’ and the other one’s called ‘The Incantation’. They’re not done yet. [They are] still in the rough mix stages,” he added. “I mean, I have to get the rough mixes, but I have four tracks now. And the four tracks are like four different movies, man. They’re not movie soundtracks; they’re like movies. They tell a story.”
Watch for more news as it comes in but with Halloween just a few weeks away, is there a world in which Hammett surprises us all with a taste of his horror-themed music before November?
It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on 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.
Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. 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. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.
“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “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 trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs 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.”
You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…
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