As the eighth season came to a close, Game of Thrones fans were saddened as the iconic television series finally reached its conclusion last Sunday. The show did an excellent job at compiling a mass amount of music for its final season with its album For the Throne featuring music from many prominent artists including The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, and The Lumineers. Along with these artists Serj Tankian from the heavy metal band System of a Down made his Game of Thrones contribution by releasing a cover of the song “The Rains of Castamere” according to Consequence of Sound. The song will be on the season eight soundtrack composed by Ramin Djawadi which is out digitally. A CD and Vinyl version will be released on July 19th of this year.

Tankian’s cover of “The Rains of Castamere” begins very simply with a melancholy and minor piano solo. Eventually Tankian comes in singing softly but with a clear voice. As the song continues on low string instruments join in making the song even more dark. Towards the middle of a song, a beautiful cello solo comes in playing the main tune of “The Rains of Castamere” while accompanied by some light piano. By the end of the song, the vocals are at its high point as a full chorus and orchestra join the main singing. The track reaches its climax of drama when Tankian shows off his vocals as he belts the melody in a somewhat operatic way. Listen to the song below:

Tankian gave a live performance of “The Rains of Castamere” about two years back when he took the stage for the “Game of Thrones: A Live Concert Experience” tour when it stopped in LA. Though System of a Down hasn’t released any albums since Hypnotize in 2005, the group has done many live performances. System of a Down performed at the Aftershock Festival towards the end of 2018, and most recently the Sonic Temple Festival and the Chicago Open Air Festival.

Photo Credits: Raymond Flotat