The Goblet of Shock
By Michael Aronovitz
Horror Author, College Professor, and Rock Critic
Andrew Drage (pseudonym Brewin) is doing it right. Since I saw Black Sabbath change the world in 1970 with a new take on music in the form of horror-metal, (followed by Alice Cooper, Slayer, Rob Zombie, Cannibal Corpse, Ravenscroft, and Slipknot just to name a few), I have been trying to merge metal and horror books. Here, Brewin has come up with the most brilliant hybrid I have yet seen.
Plainly, he self-published the novel, The Dark Horde in 2012 through the Ignis imprint and has received the following accolades:
* Dan Poynter’s Global Ebook Awards 2013 FIRST PLACE (Horror)
* Indie Excellence Awards 2013 FINALIST (Horror and Thriller categories)
* Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards 2012 HONORABLE MENTION (Genre Fiction)
Available in ebook and paperback format on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Horde-Brewin-ebook/dp/B095SFKKNW
I feel that the writing should speak for itself, and so here is an excerpt from The Dark Horde:
As one unholy mass they begin to moan, a rasping discordant sonority that carries from one horizon to another. The Dark Horde in their many millions, cast their impious gaze upward to the central stone: a fifteen-metre monolith of agony and lust. A bloody pillar of stone with the likeness of knotted ebony flesh, barbed spikes gracing its vile surface like hairs, impaled on which hang the weeping bodies of ravaged humans.
Here is the link to Brewin’s website:
https://www.thebrewin.com/
From the excerpt, it is easy to see that there is an awesome, frightening, thought provoking book at the center of Brewin’s creative masterpiece, yet instead of somehow “tying the work” to a separate musical project, he has also organized The Dark Horde: (with the same name as the book of course), a fabulous metal band with a concept album titled, The Calling, which acts as the prequel to the novel! The big release of said album is in October, 2021, (what better month for horror…), and to get a taste of the record, please feel free to sample it through a snippet of their single, “Mask,” (release date of the completed single will be July 30th, 2021).
BTW. I fucking love this tune.
https://thedarkhorde.hearnow.com/
The Band – The Dark Horde is:
* Music composed by Hanny Mohamed (Black Majesty) and introducing Logan Jacobs
* Story and lyrics by Brewin
* Featuring Danny Cecati (Wicked Smile, ex-Pegazus, ex-Eyefear) and Shaun Farrugia (In Malice’s Wake) on vocals
* Narrated by Kevin Powe
* Artwork by Aldo ‘Valgorth’ Requena (Hammerblaze)
* Mixed and mastered at Fascination Street Studios, Stockholm
* And featuring a cast of other Australian musicians and actors
I am impressed with Brewin’s vision, in that he clearly believes novels are stronger with music, horror novels are better accompanied by metal, and neither should be more important than the other. I think the dream would be to write the ultimate horror book released with a coinciding hit record landing on all the metal playlists, and next having it all culminate with the film that would include the “horror sounds” manufactured by the band as well as the hit soundtrack represented by a few best-selling singles. It is an honor and a wonder to be a part of Brewin’s journey, and I am happy to celebrate it here!
Now is the time when we withdraw to the porch or the bar or the basement to have a drink and share stories, methods, and a love for horror and metal! My fourth novel titled THE SCULPTOR comes out through Nightshade/Skyhorse books September 7th. The dark hero is a 10th grade metal head, and her favorite band is “April 21st,” a (real life) Brazilian metalcore band recently signed by Eclipse Records. Night Shade/Skyhorse and Eclipse are co promoting the products, and though this isn’t as deeply rooted as Brewin’s massive project, it is my attempt to rock both fiction and metal at the same time. My book can be pre-ordered here:
https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781949102543/the-sculptor/
Some artists do it right. Some do it all. Brewin clearly does both.
