Brocarde has taken “The Sound of Music” apart and put it back together as a full-blown gothic metal spectacle, and the result is one of the most audacious cover versions in recent memory. Produced by Chris Collier, known for his work with Korn, Whitesnake, and Mick Mars, the track collides operatic vocals with thunderous metal instrumentation, dragging the cinematic classic somewhere it has never been. It is dramatic, cathartic, and completely committed.
The story behind the cover is as striking as the recording itself. “The Sound of Music” was the first song Brocarde ever learned to sing, taught by her grandmother at the piano. When her grandmother passed away, she made a final request: sing it at her funeral. Brocarde tried. She couldn’t. That unresolved grief has lived with her ever since, and this recording is the reckoning. She explains plainly: “I was an absolute wreck. I couldn’t sing the words. I could barely speak them.” And of the recording itself: “It’s not about genre. It’s my internal grief and anger attaching to each note.”
The track found its final shape after a trip to Salzburg, the birthplace of the beloved musical, where Brocarde arrived at a realization that we never shed our past selves but carry them like spirits. It is a full-circle moment delivered with full gothic ceremony, a possession as much as a performance.
Brocarde’s world has always blurred the lines between the paranormal and the theatrical. She married the ghost of a Victorian soldier named Edwardo on Halloween 2022, divorced him six months later, and conducted a séance in honour of Lemmy at Wacken Open Air. She has appeared on This Morning, Say Yes to the Dress, and First Dates. The cover of “The Sound of Music” is her boldest summoning yet.