Listen to Panopticon’s Black Metal Cover of King’s X

King’s X are one of those stealth influences who somehow, some way, seem to creep into every corner of the metalsphere. Despite never becoming hugely popular themselves, metal musicians far and wide friggin’ love King’s X, and with good reason: they’re a phenomenal band with an impressive and varied discography spanning over three decades.

It’s not a major surprise, then, that Austin Lunn of Kentucky-based black metal act Panopticon digs King’s X enough to cover one of their songs even if King’s X are as far a cry from black metal as one can get. Lunn reimagined “Pleiades” from King’s X’s 1990 album Faith Hope Love, and holy hell, I can guarantee you’ve never heard this song sound so dark and oppressive before (that’s a compliment). As all the best covers do, Panopticon’s version of “Pleiades” is both wholly original and recognizable.

Lunn explains:

“In the autumn of 1990, my parents took me to the record store to buy a new cassette tape as a reward for doing well in school. The tape they bought me was King’s X’s new (at the time) album, ‘Faith Hope Love.’ The record blew my mind and lit a fire for progressive, emotional, and atmospheric music that would last the rest of my life, although taking many different forms as I grew and changed as a person. I bought the rest of their records that year and listened to them constantly throughout my childhood and do to this day.”

The cover, which you can stream below, appears on a compilation to raise money for the family of Markov Soroka (Tchornobog, Aureole, Krukh), whose father recently suffered a heart attack. That 35-track collection came out on October 2, also features contributions from Woe, Mare Cognitum and Caïna, and can be ordered on Bandcamp.

[via Metal Injection]