New band featuring producer Sanford Parker, former Stabbing Westward guitarist, and members of The Atlas Moth announces debut1

 
Friday, November 11 will see the release of Hex, the debut album from Black Cross Hotel. Founded in the midst of the pandemic by former Stabbing Westward guitarist Marcus Eliopulos and synth player Andrew Ragin of The Atlas Moth, the band presents a blend of punk rock energy with industrialized metal fury with a blackened cinematic edge inspired by a love for horror films and soundtracks; “Killing Joke is definitely our spirit animal band,” Ragin explains, “but John Carpenter’s movies and music, and other classic horror movies, are where we found our inspiration.” As such, the introductory singles, “Shape” and “Windows” respectively reference Carpenter’s films Halloween and The Thing, with Whipped vocalist Dee DeEmme drawing his lyrics not directly on the storylines, but rather on the movies’ “non-binary perspective” of otherness contained within. Other titles on the album reference Carpenter’s The Fog and 1985’s Demons, produced by Dario Argento and directed by by Lamberto Bava. Rounding out the lineup for Black Cross Hotel is The Atlas Moth drummer Mike Miczek and producer extraordinaire Sanford Parker on bass, with Hex having been recorded primarily at his Hypercube Studio in Chicago; also appearing on the album is Lamb of God vocalist and Pigface alumni Randy Blythe for the cover of The Misfits’ classic “We Are 138.” As stated, Hex is due for digital release on November 11, with pre-orders available now on Bandcamp. Three days later, Black Cross Hotel will perform a record release show at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, joined by Salvation, Pink Frost, and Canadian Rifle; tickets for the show are available via EventBrite. “We’ve got 10 songs already demoed for the next album,” Ragin concludes, promising that this is no one-off supergroup collaboration, “We’re going to make this a thing.”
 

Black Cross Hotel
Bandcamp, Instagram
 
Ilker Yücel (Ilker81x)