Move over, Quasimodo—there’s a new Cathedral banger in town.

In his latest project, John Carpenter carves out a metal soundscape santuary with Cathedral, his debut graphic novel and its accompanying album.

Carpenter has spent a career turning the familiar into the terrifying, and with Cathedral he’s expanding that vision beyond cinema. Released alongside the graphic novel, the album is more than a soundtrack—it’s an immersive companion piece, with each track mirroring a chapter of the story. It’s giving nostalgic Choose Your Own Adventure, Dungeons & Dragons, and the gloriously terrifying Nightmare board game from the ’90s: a fully immersive descent into gothic horror.

Inspired by a vivid dream, Cathedral follows detectives investigating a murder inside an abandoned Los Angeles church, where an ancient evil lurks beneath its foundations. Created with longtime collaborators Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, the music swaps Carpenter’s signature synth suspense for crushing riffs and gothic orchestration, creating what he calls his “first heavy metal album.”

The latest single, ‘Revenge‘, soundtracks the story’s climactic battle with thunderous guitars and haunting atmosphere. Carpenter insists the album stands on its own—and by God, does it.

With artwork by Federico De Luca and Luis Guaragna, colours from Sian Mandrake, lettering by Marshall Dillon, and the story crafted with Sandy King and Sean Sobczak, Cathedral is proof that horror doesn’t have to stay on the screen. It can be read, heard, imagined—and, if Carpenter has his way, absolutely blasted through your headphones.