overground scene

I am currently reading Stephen King‘s book The institute (2019). At the back there’s a biography, where the reader is reminded of King’s influence on wider popular culture, specifically film and TV adaptations of King’s work. What about popular music? In previous posts I have discussed instances of intertextuality between metal music and horror literature, including Clive Barker and Dismember, Dean Koontz and Autopsy, Le Fanu and Mercyful Fate, and the enduring influence of H.P. Lovecraft on death metal. In this new instalment of Is this where I came from? I will talk about Stephen King, one of my favourite horror authors, and his influence on metal culture, specifically on the thematology of metal songs. Many metal bands have been influenced by King’s writings, and here I will present four of my favourite songs by bands like Anthrax, Sacrifice, Blind Guardian and Zeke, that draw on King’s stories.

1. Anthrax‘s “Lone justice” (1985) – Stephen King‘s The gunslinger (1982)

Spreading the disease is by far my favourite Anthrax album. Overall, Anthrax is a band I never particularly liked, but this album was love at first listen. This song specifically is excellent, and undoubtedly my favourite Anthrax song. Awesome opening riff, fantastic verse melody, perfect bridge and one of the most memorable choruses ever. The lyrics tell the story of a solitary man fighting for justice, it could be about anyone, but the mention of “the gunslinger” anchors the song onto the universe of King’s famous sci-fi adventure The gunslinger, the first in the Dark Tower series of books. I have only read the first three books of the series, and I kinda lost interest eventually, but the first two books are great. Anthrax has drawn upon King’s body of work in other instances as well (e.g. “Skeleton in the closet”, “Among the living”), but the result has never been as good as “Lone justice”, in my opinion.

2. Sacrifice‘s “Pyrokinesis” (1987) – Stephen King‘s Firestarter (1980)

Sacrifice’s Forward to termination is an amazing thrash album, and the closing track is one of the highlights of the album in my opinion. The lyrics of this song are a direct reference to King’s Firestarter, a story about a little girl who has the power to start fires with her mind. The ability has been passed on to her genetically, as a result of her parents taking part in a series of experiments when they were young. I suppose this album was overshadowed by Slayer’s Reign in blood (1986) and Dark angel’s Darkness descends (1986), two albums that pre-dated it and which clearly left their mark on Sacrifice too, although, to be fair, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sacrifice’s first album influenced Dark Angel to begin with. 

3. Blind Guardian‘s “Somewhere far beyond” (1992) – Stephen King‘s The gunslinger (1982)

This is another song that is based on King’s The gunslinger. Somewhere far beyond is a monumental masterpiece of an album, not many albums in the history of music are that perfect. The eponymous song is a direct reference to King’s novel, and I can say with conviction that it is a hundred times more legendary than the actual book. It is an absolute roller-coaster of a song, fast, intense, anthemic, displaying different moods. One of my favourite moments on the song is when Roland’s dilemma about whether he should save the boy or go after the man in black is addressed at 3:04 (“…and I don’t care what’s happening to the boy”). The concept of time as it is negotiated in the book, informs another song off this album, namely “Time what is time”, although this clearly also addresses the nature of humanity and the book Do androids dream of electric sheep?. 

4. Zeke‘s “Jack Torrance” (2000) – Stephen King‘s The shining (1977)

Although Zeke is primarily a punk band, it is also a heavy rock band, so there you go. I love Zeke, and Death alley (2000) used to be my favourite album by them, until it got dethroned by 2017’s fantastic Hellbender. One of the highlights of this tornado of an album is the song “Jack Torrance”, which gets its name from one of the main characters of King’s The shining. For those who have not read the book, or haven’t seen the film(s), Jack is the caretaker of the Overlook hotel, and he is losing his mind. He is slowly descending into madness, his frail mental health and violent character further taunted by the hotel’s dark forces, and he eventually spins out of control in a frantic murderous rage, resulting in a struggle for survival for his wife and kid. Although this tune represents the madness in Jack’s head sonicaly in a great way, it is also too up-tempo and cheerful to accurately convey the menacing vibe of the book. At the same time it’s a great example of how stories migrate from one form of media to another, and their character changes along this journey.