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Dark Funeral’s Heljarmadr Shares His Top 10 Examples of How Music and Film Can Share Ideas/Concepts

Celebrating the pending release of Dark Funeral’s new album, ‘We Are The Apocalypse,’ via Century Media Records, we connected with the Swedish death metal legends’ lead singer Heljarmadr for a very special Top 10 list of instances in which film and music have positively shared ideas and concepts.

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Like a fine wine, Dark Funeral only gets better with age. At the dawn of their 29th year together, the Swedish death metal legends proudly announced recently the release of their brand new studio Century Media Records-released album We Are The Apocalypse. Set to be released on March 18th, this will be the band’s seventh proper full-length, a batch of songs that will see the quartet deliver some of their most aggressive and well-rounded songs to date. It’s all driven and guided by the ambition, grace, and presence of lead songwriter, guitarist, and founder Lord Ahriman.

Armed to the teeth with musical ferocity and technical prowess, We Are The Apocalypse will once again illustrate the musical superiority of Dark Funeral over their peers in the black metal community. It’s been a wild 25-year run, and it somehow feels like it’s still getting more exciting and ambitious, as the band delves deeper into new, unfamiliar musical territory.

With the release of We Are The Apocalypse beginning to stare us down, we recently connected with lead singer Heljarmadr for a very special Top 10 list. Today, the enigmatic frontman shares with us ten instances in which film and music have positively shared ideas and concepts.

“On our new album, We Are The Apocalypse, we have a song called ‘Nosferatu,’ which is both a nod to the supernatural but also to the exceptional horror movie from 1922. Especially old ones. Here’s a list of ten great examples of how I think music and film can share ideas and concepts.”

1. Blue Öyster Cult – “Don’t Fear The Reaper”

“I associate this song totally with Stephen King’s The Stand. Both the book and that ‘94 TV series with Gary Sinise and Rob Lowe, amongst others. It’s an iconic song with a truly eerie atmosphere around it, I absolutely love it.”

2. Iron Maiden – “The Wicker Man”

“This was the first single from the Brave New World album, the return of Bruce (Dickinson). It is a great song and the reason I found out about the film with the same name. A recent version of that movie concept is the Swedish film Midsommar, worth checking out.”

3. W.A.S.P – “Scream Until You Like It”

“I don’t dare to re-watch the Ghoulies films today as I have a strong feeling they will not have aged too well. This song doesn’t feel old though.”

Dark Funeral’s Heljarmadr in 2021 by Bartosz Szydlowski

4. Sodom – “The Saw Is The Law”

“I’m not sure if this actually is a Texas Chainsaw Massacre-themed song but I have always seen it as such. I first saw that film through a fourth-generation VHS copy back in the good ole days and it creeped the shit out of me. The sequels are great too but that remake didn’t do it for me.”

5. Motörhead – “Hellraiser”

“I think the black metal scene owes a lot to ‘Hellraiser’ when it comes to visuals. I like both versions of this song but I’m more of a Motörhead fan than an Ozzy fan in the end.”

6. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – “Red Right Hand”

“I never really liked the Scream films that much, but this song is just amazing. I think it’s been used in that series Peaky Blinders too. Dark music doesn’t always include distorted guitars.”

7. Deicide – “Dead by Dawn”

“I think this is an Evil Dead reference. Glen Benton has been a strong influence for me when it comes to extreme metal vocals, even if I don’t sound even remotely similar. The intensity and clear pronunciation of the lyrics, that’s something I have always admired and used for my own work.”

8. Johnny Cash – “The Man Comes Around”

“I’m a sucker for zombie films but I usually don’t like remakes, so when the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead came out I didn’t have too high hopes. But that intro with this song on top, damn that gave me chills and actually, I think that’s what made me give the remake a serious chance. I’m a huge Johnny Cash fan too.”

9. Bruce Dickinson – “Bring Your Daughter… To The Slaughter”

“The Elm Street films are awesome and still hold up today. I was choosing between this one and Dokken’s ‘Dream Warriors,’ but this is, in my opinion, better and a less obvious choice.”

10. Aura Noir – “Black Metal Jaw”

“Another one that’s probably not about the movie I’m thinking about, but a damn fine song that had me re-watch Jaws when I first heard it. This album (The Merciless) is probably one of the finest moments of Norwegian thrash metal.”

Artwork for the album ‘We Are The Apocalypse’ by Dark Funeral

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