The song’s brilliance lies in Vorpal’s decision to inhabit Freddie Lounds, the opportunistic journalist who becomes Dolarhyde’s victim. This perspective creates an intimate horror where you experience the killer through the eyes of someone who first sees him as just a story, then becomes trapped in his nightmare.

Musically, the contrast between verses and choruses creates the track’s unnerving energy. The verses are sparse and eerie, built on ambient, reverb-heavy guitars that feel distant and ghostlike. This sense of space mirrors the psychological buildup of Dolarhyde’s fantasy. When the chorus hits, distorted guitars surge forward but remain drenched in reverb, creating a dreamlike wall of sound. The dynamic jump is dramatic, but instead of catharsis, it feels like being caught in a force you can’t comprehend.

Lyrically, Vorpal uses repetition to evoke dread. The chorus “He’s a red dragon / And we know that he likes to bite” starts as dark humor but grows more ominous. By the end, it feels like an invocation. Similarly, lines like “He’ll put the mirrors in your eyes” aren’t explained, but their grotesque imagery lets your mind do the work.

The infamous wheelchair sequence is the emotional peak, delivered with disturbing calm. “He made me say his message / Then he set me on fire with a kiss” captures horror not through gore, but a surreal mix of romance and violence, emphasizing Dolarhyde’s delusion over brutality.

Manhunter doesn’t retell Red Dragon; it distills its mood: isolation, fractured humanity, and violence lurking beneath the surface. By avoiding cheap thrills and explicit detail, Vorpal creates something more effective: a horror song that makes you feel complicit in its nightmare.

It doesn’t just reference the novel; it expands it. Manhunter reimagines Red Dragon’s psychological landscape in musical form, making the familiar newly terrifying.

 

Q doesn’t try to win you over, it tries to unnerve you. Built on distorted minimalism, eerie synths, and fractured rhythmic patterns, the song plays like a scrambled transmission from a dream you can’t remember. Vocals drift in like whispers from a broken speaker: disembodied, unreadable, and oddly familiar. It’s disorientation as an aesthetic, and Vorpal leans in hard. There’s no sing-along moment here, just tension that tightens with each second.

This isn’t music meant to please. It’s a sonic act of defiance against streamlined content and predictable patterns. Think dystopia, but internal. Think poetry, but the kind written in static. Think emotion, but filtered through a screen until it flickers.

Vorpal’s genius lies in his ability to transform discomfort into a magnetic force. Q feels like the sound of scrolling endlessly at 2 AM, lost between information and identity, spiraling in and out of clarity. It’s cinematic without a film, deeply intimate yet emotionally distant. And somehow, it sticks with you.

If you’re looking for easy listening, keep moving. But if you’re willing to lean into the weird, Q might just be the track that reminds you how much art can still surprise you.

Now streaming, if you dare! 

I want to extend my personal thanks to the emo rock trio Tired of Fighting from Newcastle for their latest impressive track, “Branches.”

It’s a song that came to me during a tough time, you know, when juggling work, new projects, family and health issues, failed relationships, etc. The impactful emo rock trio, Tired of Fighting, captured all my emotions in their latest single, “Branches”. The song inspires you to embrace the present, appreciate your accomplishments, and not dwell too much on the future. “We can’t control the future, but we should enjoy the good times while we can, be grateful for what we have, and also show appreciation for how far we’ve come.” – Tired of Fighting explained.

Love Ghost features the Mexican artist Yung Dupe, and was produced by Mexico’s Shantra who worked with Santa Fe Klan, Piso 21, and many others.

I enjoyed how the melody played a significant role in “Time Travel”, with the orchestral strings being a remarkable addition. This was especially captivating when paired with the well-crafted animated music video by Sketch AMV. Through both the visuals and the music, the song effectively conveys the story of a troubled girl seeking to undo her past and break free from demons, a narrative that resonates with the singer’s life.

Yung Dupe’s bridge addition was impressive, acting as a smooth transition for the listeners and enhancing the cinematic experience with the incredible strings. Love Ghost recently toured Europe and performed at the Rockpalast festival, broadcasted across Germany on German television. The artist has received praise from critics and fans, and I personally consider him to be one of the outstanding artists. I believe he has the potential to become one of the most influential artists of all time. Cheers!

The band described the story of the album as…

‘A story of survival after grief told through the eyes and in the words of troubled lovers. The themes of finding self worth amidst the wreckage of personal traumas, tragedies, and loss.’

Black Bouquet released their first single “Run and Hide” off the album along with a music video…a powerful visual and auditory experience infused with excellent 80s rock vibes, with an excellent vocal performance and catchy melodies by the guitars and bass…and a fast rocking drum beat that really brings the energy out of the listener.

On the visual side, “Run and Hide” is engaging and very artsy…mostly in black and white with a bit of a noir visual twist…while some shots use very vibrant colors…the contrast is hypnotic.

…now that “Run and Hide” sets the expectations of what to expect from the album…spoiler alert, the album really raises the bar even more with a diverse collection of emotions, energies and many hooking melodies…and great musical composition, really.

The album starts with a bang with its first song “My Love”, with super emotional acoustic guitar and orchestral strings sections mixed with a huge gothic rock/punk chorus…and a very melodic one at that…super powerful…it’s one amazing kick off to the album!

…Black Bouquet manages to keep things fresh, with each song comes a musical twist…for example, we started the album with a dark gothic rock punk song, the second song is an 80s rock experience with some iconic synth melodies…and an upbeat drum section…

…this is exactly the kind of musical diversity that we can’t find easily anywhere else…this is excellent.

“Pray to the Knife” keeps things interesting all the way through, taking us from the upbeat and fast riffs of the 80s infused rocking sounds of “Serpents” to the punk/pop sounds of “Footsteps”…to the slow and dark minimal sounds of “A Window With No Curtains”…this one here has some avant garde vibes to it, exploring some uncharted musical territories…brilliant.

The album ends on the title track, “Pray to the Knife”…an emotional journey, going through the whole emotional spectrum…from the lowest lows, to the highest highs, displaying excellent levels of melodic prowess.

“Pray to the Knife” is an exceptional album filled with powerful emotions and excellent music…this is a highly recommended experience, that’s for sure.

Cheers!

• Very pleased to be asking you these questions Markus, thank you for taking the time to sit with us to answer them. Starting with the name. Why are you referring to yourself as the last optimist? Are there back stories behind this name?

I’m grateful for the interview Moataz and happy to be talking with Rock Era Magazine fans. I started this project in 2019 and the moniker ‘the last optimist’ was meant to be the antidote to all the heaviness in the world at that time. I wanted to find light in that darkness and inspire others to do the same. I may be on quixotic fool’s errand by charging into darkness armed only with optimism but we can’t just rage against the injustices – we have to bring the hope or we will just be angry and lost. I don’t want to be the last one – I want a movement!

• Throughout the album we find many different musical directions, from the soft rock of ‘love in like a simile’, to the anthemic ‘hermit in the maples’, to the energizing ‘one night in Belfast’. Would you say such different musical products have a particular creative process to their inception? Or is each song created in its own situation under different circumstances?

I can’t take much credit here. The songs have a life of their own. The secret to ‘seed water sun’ has been to quiet my own frenetic mind and open up to the muse. The songs come fast, first as images and words. Then I try to play along on my guitar and find that each song requires a couple of new chords and picking patterns that I don’t know yet. So I slop along until I can keep up and then finally capture it. That’s all been solo to date and this year I have been grateful to share the creative process with Doug and Danielle. They think very differently than I do and the secret has been to trust and they never disappoint. ‘seed water sun’ is at the same time disparate and cohesive. The songs are all misfits and they hang together somehow as if they need each other.

•  How would you describe the artistic relationship between yourself and Doug Kwartler? Should listeners refer to The Last Optimist as a duo? Or as a solo act? And how does the creative process move between the two of you given Doug’s intensive involvement as a musician and as a producer?

Doug is a musical genius and I am very fortunate to have collided with him. I toured my last album with the very talented folk artist, Susan Levine, and she introduced me to Doug and their new duo ‘The Lied Tos.’ We started the relationship as solo folk singer meets seasoned producer and he began to take on most of the orchestration for the album. Doug claims that this has been his most adventurous album and he really stretched to weave old and new. Sometimes I still play solo but now that musicians are out of their caves again I plan to play a lot with Doug, Danielle, Susan, and others in whatever configuration the nights brings. I look to ‘Boy Genius’ for inspiration here – they are just following the music!

• Two songs on the album feature a vocal duet with Danielle Pinals. How would you describe the difference between writing music for one singer and writing for two? Are the lyrics conceived from a different thought process if you know somebody else is going to sing them?

I wish I knew in advance that Danielle would be singing those songs with me! I definitely would have written her a bigger, cooler, better part. Unfortunately, I wrote the music for one and then was unexpectedly thrilled to record the duets. Funny, just yesterday I bought one of those old Tascam 4-track recorders just so I can write for more voices. I’ve never been one for writing harmonies and countermelodies but that’s one of the places we are going next. Its time for music to be a group activity again!

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• With such richness to the lyrics, often poetic and almost always thoughtful and introspective, do you have any special frame of mind that helps you pen down these ideas? Are they conceived in short times, or do you leave them to cook for long periods of time? And is there a particular method you rely on to come up with lyrics?

Thank you for noticing. I love when people get curious and dive into the lyrics of a song they like and then discover an entirely new layer of the music. The songs I keep usually come early in the morning. I still my own thoughts and try to put myself into an intense emotion or story and then the phrases tumble out fast and nearly fully formed. I feel lucky and also humble because I believe that there are other creative forces at play that are elusive and unexplainable. I am fortunate to have an overactive muse this year and she requires very little editing – just an open vessel and a fast pencil.

• Lastly, what can us listeners and fans expect next from Markus Belanger, or The Last Optimist? Tours, clips, more music in the works? Where can we find you next?

I’m hoping the music will lead the way this year. It is time to play out a lot and to get together with other musicians. Reading the tea leaves, I think ‘the last optimist’ will be a full band a year from now and the music will evolve very quickly. I have nearly a full new album scratched out with lyrics and guitar. Doug, Danielle, and I have some work ahead of us to help the new album take shape.

• It’s been a great pleasure listening to your music and asking you these questions Markus. Hoping that you find them engaging, we thoroughly thank you for your time and your beautiful music.

Hailing from The Netherlands, Maarten Rischen is an experimental artist who makes music like no one else. He’s gifted and skilled as a musician, but what differentiates him from any other artist is his authenticity. You’re not going to find many artists willing to improvise an almost 8-minute track with a moving performance and flawless musicality as he did in his song “Serenity?”

“I have a very strong negative stance on music videos in which the artist is pretending to play their instrument or lip-syncing, as it takes away any and all risk and creativity that an actual recording or live performance has – leaving either an empty or overly exaggerated ‘performance’, and none of it is what I regard as making art.” Stated Rischen. That’s why he amazed us with a remarkable music video of his playing. It doesn’t just bring a sense of professionalism and pure serenity; you’ll be totally immersed and lost in the realm he created.

“Serenity?” featuring the dancer Alina Spittan is the sound and visuals of a long-awaited deep breath, a sound of liberty, calmness, and breaking free. The song starts as a mellow ballad and progresses to an epic, revolutionary take. To set you in a serene mood, the song starts off with soft piano playing accompanied by the sound of reassuring ocean waves. Each note offers tranquility and seamlessly makes you want to stare at the music video until you feel as if you’re there, too. At 3:22, the song takes a dramatic shift that is both intense and upbeat. If you didn’t get up and dance, at this point you’ll be enticed to join Spittan. This smooth turn from ambient to prog-rock is mind-blowing! It’s not forced, and every note is connected to the next one in beautiful harmony, from the soothing intro to the energetic part and the getting to a peaceful state again outro.

The entire track demonstrates how Rischen is deeply connected with music and instruments. He’s driven by passion, talent, and the love of music. All of the incredible instruments playing, composition, and production are improvised by him. This kind of sincere, impassioned performance is never fake. The extraordinary musician truly enjoys and aces what he does, and that’s what makes you easily engaged, feel what he feels, and enjoy along with him through the masterpiece.

What adds more profundity, deep emotions, and visual euphoria is Alina Spittan’s enchanting dancing. Throughout the 8 minutes, you’ll be wondering how this is not choreographed. The talented, sentimental dancer doesn’t know what Maarten will be playing at the moment; she’s just going with the flow, and it turns out magnificent! She’s translating the language of Maarten’s music through her delicate moves and illustrating freedom and serenity in a captivating visual manner. The effects that have been added to the video, such as the black and white scenes, the colors, the birds, and the illustrated elements, are mesmerizing and give an extra beat to the pretty much bursting-with-life piece.

To wrap it up, this emotional rollercoaster will give you the break you need from the world and, even better, will take you to a whole new one. It’s calmer there! Are you searching for “Serenity?” The music video below is the way to get there.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, The Last Optimist is a project of serene, thoughtful folk music masterminded by multi-instrumentalists Markus Belanger and Doug Kwartler, with Belanger laying the bones of each song, guitars, vocals, bass, and drums, while Kwartler taking care of all other instruments, and taking production duties under his wing also.

The music on ‘seed – water – sun’ is uniformly introspective and graceful. With clean vocal deliveries and sharp lyrical ideas, the project’s songs are pieces full of eloquent, melodic, and memorable folk musings, like warm acoustics, minimalistic arrangements, and atmospheric elements to back the lush words and heartful deliveries. At the crossroads of Leonard Cohen’s left field lyrical prowess and Damien Rice’s fierce independence, The Last Optimist’s is provocative of rich mental sceneries with their descriptive words and sweet, graceful melodies. 

Starting with a pair of tunes that sum up the gist of this album’s music and words, ‘not a sound’ starts the album on a hushed and gentle breeze, courtesy of Belanger’s restrained delivery and the autumnal arrangement and composition. Featuring Danielle Pinals’s beautiful voice in a duet, the wonderfully composed piece showcases The Last Optimist’s exceedingly mature songwriting skills, starting the album with a song about silence is a refreshing move that is wonderfully executed, and the dreamy acoustic guitar-led instrumental is awe-inspiring in its modal nature that easily paints vivid scenes. The second cut ‘only two ways out’ displays the other side of The Last Optimist. A feisty piece of alt/pop/rock/folk, the tune is difficult to describe with any words other than unique. The dynamic groove and overdriven guitar chugs make a bizarre, but inviting, fusion with Belanger’s generally restrained vocal delivery in a mix that boasts with dry boominess, the exact opposite of the first cut’s dreamy nature. The poetic lyrics are also different, from hushing about silence, to crooning about war and lost soldiers, those two back-to-back songs are truly a bold start to the journey that is ‘seed – water – sun’.

Fourth cut ‘shame you left me’ truly displays the Leonard Cohen influence on Markus Belanger. From poetic, descriptive, and accessible lyrics to melodies and harmonies laced with unsettling melancholy, to off-putting rhythms that set an alarm in the brain, this shocker of a composition equally horrifies and stuns. A trip of sublime beauty and scale. From its hushed and borderline-spoken introduction to its abrupt and explosive lead guitar sections, every second and note counts. ‘hermit in the maples’ is a delightful piece of indie folk that tickles the Tom Waits tick with its unfamiliar sounding drums and thought provoking story telling. The music carries a bit of Jeff Buckley’s gentleness and a tad of Cohen’s grace, while being identifiable throughout as something else entirely, carrying The Last Optimist’s sharp-left-corner turnarounds and Belanger’s own lyrical fingerprints. Following with the bustling folk break on ‘one night in Belfast’, to a moment of romantic respite on ‘love is like a simile’, both songs rich with guitars, albeit very different sounding guitar arrangements, with the first being raspy and rowdy, and the latter slow, gentle, chic, and mature.

Finally, we come face to face with the album’s final hurrah. ‘on Monkton ridge’ is a dazzling piece of folk that starts hushed and intimate, with sweet sounding acoustic, violin, and vocals, before gradually gaining explosive grandeur, then dissipating it gently, all the while lullabying us with its sincere melodies and respectful presence. ‘on Monkton ridge’ ends the album on a mature note that leaves us satisfied and inspired. Throughout the album, The Last Optimist delivers one thoughtful musical and lyrical idea after the other, all executed with a decided direction and with a clear identity. ‘seed – water – sun’ is an unforgettable fusion of a kaleidoscope of folk colors.

Los Angeles-based band is composed of Finnegan Bell (lead vocals, guitar), Ryan Stevens (bass, backing vocals), Daniel Alcala (guitar, backing vocals) and Cory Batchler (keys, backing vocals). Together, they produce the most unique style of pop, emo, and rock fusion. We had a little chat with the band and learned more about them and their latest release, “Tell Me When.”

As the year 2021 draws to a close, how has the year been for you?

2021 was wild. A lot happened for Love Ghost and in my life personally, it was a year full of blessings, curses, trauma , growth but most importantly raw art. I am a work-a-holic and I always feel like I could be doing more than I am every year. But this year, had some really high moments. We collabed with some of my favorite artists on the planet, grew our following and 2022 is gonna be more crazy.

We’re pleased you guys got together and formed “Love Ghost” to make this amazing music. How did you all meet? Thank you so much, there’s been many incarnations of this band, and in this line-up everyone comes from somewhere else. Some of us met online, some through mutual homies. It all came together how it was supposed too.

You did a great job on your latest single, “Tell Me When!” Everything is flawless; the lyrics, voice, music, artwork, and music video are all well-crafted to tell a story! Aw, thank you. Im glad you resonate with the song. I hope it helps you. <3.

What was on your mind while composing “Tell Me When” music?
We were talking about heart-break and relationships. But also hope and healing. It’s painful but overall, its like wishing the other person the best and being grateful for the times we shared.

Could you tell us more about the story behind the “Tell Me When” lyrics?
Yes, like I said earlier, it’s a song about a broken relationship/ heart break. But it’s also about deciding what you want in life. I felt like I had a choice between starting a career and falling in love. It’s difficult as a hopeless romantic. I’m speaking for myself (Finn). Ryan wrote the chorus.

“The new music that’s coming from Love Ghost is just our storytelling of the things happening in our lives at the moment,” lead vocalist and guitarist Finnegan Bell said. Which single do you consider has the most personal tale about you in its lyrics? It changes, but maybe Fade Away. I got really vulnerable on that song.

You indicated in a previous interview that you all come from different musical backgrounds and that your music test is diverse. How did you manage to settle on your current distinguished music style?
Honestly we just start creating, and it will go in unexpected directions and then eventually we’ll settle on something we all like.

So far, your music is fantastic! But have you ever experienced a creative block and been unable to create new music?
If that’s the case, how did you deal with it? YESSS, I get writers block a lot and I hate it. I’ll spend an entire day in my car writing and sometimes only have two words on the paper. It’s my pet-peeve. Then eventually inspiration will just come to me out of the blue.

REVIEW – Tell Me When by Love Ghost 

To someone who has never heard of your work before, what single would you suggest for him? And why?
I usually recommend “Closure” first. It’s our most popular song and I feel like it’s very well-rounded.

What is your favourite part when it comes to touring and performing live?
Also, have you ever had a fun incident on stage before? I love the energy and the love. If a show goes well, I get a huge adrenaline rush and I feel like I’m high. I also will try to have moments in the live show where I’ll create hills and valleys. I’ll get quiet and tell a personal story. I’ll do some crazy physical stunts and do something very daring. I want people to leave the show, feeling like they just went on a journey.

Finally, we wish you a happy new year filled with success, love, and laughter. What are your plans for 2022?
Thank you, same to you! We are going to do it big, release lots of music and play lots of shows.