Dark in Here, the forthcoming album from the Mountain Goats, was recorded at legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. It’s a quieter and smokier batch of songs when compared to the rich and vibrant hues of its sibling “Memphis” record, last October’s Getting Into Knives. Perhaps no song better functions as Dark in Here’s sonic and emotional cornerstone than “The Slow Parts on Death Metal Albums.”

“The Slow Parts on Death Metal Albums” features luminous backing vocals from Susan Marshall and Reba Russell, known for their work with everyone from Rev. Al Green to Lynyrd Skynyrd to U2.

From the Mountain Goats’ bassist Peter Hughes: 
“John Darnielle concedes that “The Slow Parts on Death Metal Albums” is an autobiographical one. While the lines, “In a new universe / trying to find the mask that fits me” would take on a newly literal connotation … the song is about going to metal shows at Fender’s Ballroom in Long Beach, California, in the late ’80s, and more broadly, about seeking a sense of identity and community in strange and occasionally forbidding places.”