Editorials
2011 BLACK FRIDAY CHOPPING LIST: MUSIC
Wow. This year saw new releases from metal titans Megadeth, Anthrax and Mastodon. But we know that, while metal pumps deeply in the hearts of most BD readers, it’s not the only type of music that blows your skirt up. So click below for the badass selection of film scores, hip-hop and yes bone-crushing metal that makes up the 2011 Music edition of our Chopping List. We’ve switched the purchase links over to iTunes this year (for the most part) so familiarize yourself with their “gift this item” feature. If you just want old-school discs, then most of these titles are readily available at Amazon as well.
List Price: $9.99
I fell in love with Mastodon two years ago when I heard Crack The Skye. It instantly took me back to the days when metal could be textured, ambitious, musical and symphonic. It felt like a Master Of Puppets for the new millennium. This new record trades in some of the epics for shorter songs and adds some more hooks but also finds a way to remain more interesting than The Black Album. For one, The Hunter actually has a bit of a sense of humor. Highly recommended and bound to brighten the holidays of any old-school metal fan.
List Price: $9.99
This one hasn’t actually been getting a ton of critical love, which I’m a little baffled by. For one, it goes without saying that it’s miles better than Strays. And while it’s not an instant classic like Nothing’s Shocking or Ritual it has plenty of merits. Dave Sitek’s production helps the band back into those dark corners it was born in and the result is kind of like a cool codeine dream of a record. It has some of the slow mysticism of the second Porno For Pyros record combined with the textures and groove Jane’s is known for. If you know a Jane’s fan who has written this album off as a matter of course – go ahead and get it for them. They’ll be pleasantly surprised.
List Price: $9.99
From Jonathan Barkan’s review.
“This album is a perfect mixture of creepy and beautiful, calming yet unsettling. Also a prog album, this one leans more towards the “arty” side of the genre rather than Leprous’ rock/metal. With definite nods to the Goblin and Tangerine Dream horror/sci-fi soundtracks, each track on this album is representative of some form of apocalypse, whether it be natural disaster or financial ruin. For those rainy evenings when you can lay back and let yourself get lost in the music, Terminal Twilight is one of the best accompaniments I can recommend.”
List Price: More Details Dec. 2nd
There’s obviously no new Nine Inch Nails record this year but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a kick ass release from Trent Reznor. I adored the score for The Social Network and the snippets I heard of the Tattoo during a footage presentation a few months back sounded even better – driving the footage to an unrelentingly intense culmination. The track listing has yet to be announced but we can only hope that Reznor’s “Immigrant Song” collaboration with Karen O. makes the cut. More details are available on Dec 2nd which, knowing Reznor, is probably pretty soon to when the album is released digitally. I’d bet a kidney it’s out before Christmas.
List Price: $7.99
From Jonathan Barkan’s review.
“Looking more and more like my Album of the Year, this prog/rock/metal masterpiece doesn’t have a single song I’d classify as “filler”. It also adds in enough stylistic changes to keep things constantly interesting (just check out the awesome funk bass riff in “Mediocrity Wins”, the lullaby-esque intro to “Mb. Indifferentia”, or the eerie piano opening to “Acquired Taste”). I’ve been coming back to this album over and over again since I got it, which is becoming a rarer occurrence these days.”
List Price: $9.99
Honestly, I’d kind of lost track of Megadeth after Countdown To Extinction but coming back and listening to Th1rt3en it feels like they haven’t missed much of a beat. A lot of the stuff I’d heard here and there over the years was light on hooks and heavy on riffage, but in this new release the two exist side by side in fairly sustainable portions. And finding religion doesn’t seem to have made Mustaine too soft at all.
List Price: $11.99/Deluxe $14.99
This album may not reach the heights of Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy but it certainly outpaces Jay-Z’s last offering by a lap and a half. It’s a lot of fun to hear these two friends and artistic rivals challenge each other into exploring new levels. It’s an epic game of one-upmanship that makes a perfect universal gift (provided the recipient is at least in middle school).
List Price: $9.99
From Jonathan Barkan’s review.
“Sometimes you just have to put on tunes that make you rock out. And what better band to do it to than Anthrax? Not only do you have an album full of kickass songs but one of them, Fight ‘Em Til You Can’t, is about surviving the zombie apocalypse! So gather up your survival gear, pop this sucker onto your iPod, and show them what you’ve got.”
List Price: $9.99
Another under-appreciated gem from earlier in the year. While you can’t argue that it’s better than the first record – it certainly rocks harder and more melodically than almost any other mainstream release this year. “Under Cover Of Darkness” is groovy and cathartic and “Gratisfaction” downright channels Thin Lizzy. If you know a classic rock fan in need of something new, pass this along. “Taken For A Fool” is another highlight.
List Price: $9.99
This thing! I had it on repeat in my car for literally three weeks after I saw the film! And I suspect when I get another dose of one of the year’s best movies on Blu-ray that this soundtrack will go right back into regular rotation. The first five songs are those perfect east-side LA retro synth sounding songs that somehow you still love despite their hipster pedigree. After that the disc settles into Cliff Martinez’s shimmery, ambient score. An album you can literally drive around to in any town and it automatically makes the streets you’re cruising cool as hell.
List Price: $9.99
Know someone who loves Metal at its darkest, most brutal and uncompromising? Know someone who loves insane tempo changes? Know someone who love the double bass drum? Then get this for them. Just do it. They remind me of Pantera in the purity of their intentions but also manage to bring some Iron Maiden-esque mystique and harmonies into the mix without coming across as silly.
List Price: $9.99
Know someone who’s a fan of Tool and A Perfect Circle but can’t seem to stretch the arms of their musical fandom beyond metal? This is a good first step. The presence of Maynard James Keenan will draw them in and, while there’s till plenty of heavy stuff on the record, introduce them to a wide swath of experimental sounds and ideas. A really interesting record.
List Price: $9.99
From Jonathan Barkan’s review.
“C’mon people, this movie is a classic and Ennio Morricone’s music is pretty much burned into our brains at this point. Put on this album, close your eyes, and watch the movie from memory. Almost as good as watching the movie itself.”
List Price: $12.99
From Jonathan Barkan’s review.
“If your morbid curiosity can’t take it any longer and you just HAVE to know what this horrific mess sounds like, please wait until Black Friday, when I’m guessing this will be in the dollar bin. That way you can at least spend as little money as possible on it. And once you realize you never want to listen to it again, you can use it as a drink coaster! Two for the price of one (dollar)!”
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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