Gates The Comic by Hal Hefner, Presented by Heavy Metal

Welcome to Gates, Heavy Metal Magazine’s First Official Online Comic.

With the release of the first song, Hal Hefner and Heavy Metal, would like to announce that the Gates soundtrack for Heavy Metal’s first online comic is dedicated to the late, great Ronnie James Dio. In May of 2010, Dio passed away after a battle with cancer. As one of the pioneers of Heavy Metal, Ronnie really brought in the element of Fantasy to the music genre and helped lay down the foundation for tying fantasy art in with music. As a member of Black Sabbath, he participated in the original Heavy Metal Movie Soundtrack. It was only fitting to claim this soundtrack in his honor. More info on Hal Hefner’s website. (AND more to come on this subject soon)

We are pleased to announce the release of the first song on the soundtrack for the web comic Gates, entitled Gates Theme (Spaced) by LoveKrafty.

It’s a melodic and haunting tune that we are honored to have accompany the comic, beautifully created by ambient rocker LoveKrafty.  The song was originally recorded in the fall of 2010 at Synchronicity Studio in Culver City, CA. It was officially completed on 10.10.10.

Behind The Scenes with LoveKrafty:
by Hal Hefner

When I first approached LoveKrafty about making some music for the new Heavy Metal web comic, Gates,  he came at us with tons of ideas. I explained to him that I wanted something ambient, yet with an element of danger and lurking malevolence.

I also wanted to infuse an underground feeling with a touch of helplessness, capped off by a sense of being chased.

This seemed like a tall order with all of my requests but LoveKrafty went to work and within a few days he had this masterpiece.

When I heard it, I knew immediately  that it was perfect. He had originally entitled it, Spaced, but I felt this really symbolized Gates and the struggle for survival that I was trying to convey in the web comic.

Luckily LoveKrafty’s studio is close to my house so I was able to see the magnificent creation of the piece. Not only is LoveKrafty a master of the studio realm but he can play just about any instrument out there. He’s an amazingly talented man and it was fun to watch this song take shape over the course of the recording.

In crafting the soundtrack, I wanted to make sure that I reflected upon the 1981 Heavy Metal movie soundtrack closely. With a wide variety of musical talent on there spanning from DEVO to Journey to Stevie Nicks to Blue Oyster Cult and Dio/Black Sabbath and Sammy Hagar, I was determined to give it an updated feel yet an also not be pigeonholed or handcuffed by the past. As soon as I heard this song I knew it had to lead off the soundtrack because it fit perfectly with the story. It was a tough call between that and a song by the Metal band Rusty Eye, but this just seemed like a more natural progression for the release.

I hope you find the song, fitting and entertaining as well. Please enjoy the music and the comic. This song is also featured on the official trailer for the new web comic from Heavy Metal, Gates. (below)

- Hef 12.31.10

How Do You Play The Music?

It’s pretty easy. If you would like step by step instructions. Here they are.

•   Below the comic, in the right column, on the right hand side of yours screen you will see a white box, that says GATES SOUNDTRACK.

•   Simply click on the arrow that represents PLAY and that’s it. The rest should be common sense, in order to stop. move forward or move back.

•   You’ll see that it also shows a playlist below, that tells the name of the song and the artist.

Here is a screen shot below demonstrating this as well.