With Lost Themes III, Carpenter resurfaces with a collection that is testament to his craft

Committing a roll call of iconic characters and scenes to celluloid immortality throughout a decades-spanning career, John Carpenter is secure in his legendary status as one of the genre’s directorial titans; a record that requires very little introduction. The 2015 release of Lost Themes would, however, herald a form of renaissance, psychologically shredding soundscapes designed for blood-soaked film frames, lent further dimension via the addition of son Cody and godson Daniel Davies. The spare, searingly effective electronic sequences of classics such as Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween at its throbbing heart, paralleled with writhing guitar solos and synth-wave detours, a sub-genre that in of itself can count Carpenter as a progenitor.

Lost Themes III finds the trio reassembled, as if in the act of resurrecting a score to some obscure slasher or body horror piece. True to the spirit of Lost Themes II and its predecessor in diverging between encroaching, palpitating perturbance and a hard-rock blitz on the senses, Carpenter executes a ten-track interplay between suspense and guttural carnage; a dichotomy that is at its most pronounced in the Vangelis-esque “Dripping Blood” and the hail of guitars hammering “Vampire’s Touch”. Shades of Tomorrow's Harvest-era Boards of Canada pierce through “Turning Bones”, exhuming a hauntingly melodic ‘80s spirit, while “Skeleton” sees a desiccated corpse at its most reanimated, nodding to genre staples such as the score to the original Romero-directed Day of the Dead. Chugging chords and drone elsewhere rumble through “The Dead Walk”, harking back to Carpenter’s earlier collaborations with Alan Howarth, namely the title score to Halloween III; while the stealthy sonic calling card of Michael Myers rings through “Carpathian Darkness”, despite referencing Dracula’s geographical origins.

With Lost Themes III, Carpenter resurfaces with a collection that is testament to an unshakeable dedication to his craft, conjuring a universe of ghouls and paranormal shapeshifters that would not feel out of place amidst the cinematic realms of Prince of Darkness or In the Mouth of Madness. Each track inhabits its own internal realm and atmosphere, a power to compel that doesn’t dissipate.