Metal, horror, and graphic novels — if you’re reading Weapon K Media, I’d be shocked if you don’t love at least two of those. For me, it’s all three. So yeah, John Carpenter’s new project has my full attention.
Cathedral is Carpenter’s most ambitious project in years: a metal album paired with his first-ever graphic novel, both dropping this August. The graphic novel arrives August 4 via Storm King Comics; the album follows August 7 on Sacred Bones Records. Recorded with his longtime collaborators Cody Carpenter (synths) and Daniel Davies (guitar), each track aligns with a chapter of the graphic novel, with liner notes guiding you through the story. Lead single “Lord of the Underground” is out now on Bandcamp.
The whole concept stemming from a dream is wild — vivid enough that he turned it into a full record and graphic novel. Even better that it’s centered around an abandoned church right here in his backyard, Los Angeles. Carpenter says it himself: “It was so cinematic and vivid. I thought, ‘I have to score this.’ It’s kind of our first heavy metal album.”
Carpenter has been making music since the ’70s — he scored Halloween himself, and the Lost Themes series on Sacred Bones has been quietly excellent for years. But Cathedral feels like a different gear. A dedicated metal record with a full narrative structure and a graphic novel companion isn’t a soundtrack side project. He’s committing to a concept, doing it with one of the best independent labels in the game, and setting the whole thing in his own backyard.
August can’t come soon enough.
Source: Metal Injection