Track Premiere: Black Cross Hotel – “Windows”

“What if Mick Mars and John Carpenter joined Killing Joke?” That’s the question that Chicago punk/industrial upstarts Black Cross Hotel base their finely tuned aesthetic on. With a lineup that includes synth player Andrew Ragin (The Atlas Moth), guitarist Marcus Eliopulos (Stabbing Westward), bassist/producer Sanford Parker (Minsk, Corrections House), drummer Mike Miczek (Broken Hope, The Atlas Moth) and vocalist Dee DeEmme (Whipped), the band certainly has the pedigree to deliver the goods. And deliver they do on their debut album, Hex, which features tracks inspired by a trio of John Carpenter flicks (Halloween, The Fog and The Thing), Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and the 1985 Bava/Argento flick, Demons, among others. There’s even a cover of horror-punk OGs the Misfits’ “We Are 138” with a guest shot from Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe.

With Hex set to drop on November 11, we’re premiering Black Cross Hotel’s “Windows” here exclusively. “‘Windows’ takes its musical inspiration from John Carpenter’s The Thing,” DeEmme, who identifies as non-binary, explains. “At the time I was interested in how queer people are often fans of horror and the concepts of otherness contained within. Thinking about the way The Thing hides and creates distortions of humans reminded me of the way people on the outskirts of society attempt to fit in to meet societal expectations. The lyrics are from the monster’s perspective, then, and what comes off as a gross horror to others is really a story about an alien in an unknown place, trying to fit in to survive—and ultimately not doing so great at it.”

Check out “Windows” at the link below: