Limited series comic book crossover event Dark Nights: Death Metal has new audio and visual accompaniments on the way. A preview was released for the new animatic short film for the project, which will use illustrator Greg Capullo’s original series artwork.

Dark Nights: Death Metal is the sequel to 2017’s Dark Nights: Metal. It’s a comic book event that, according to the series’ writer Scott Snyder, aims to bring together all storylines from every mainline DC comic book series. 

The short film is being directed by Tyler Bates, who is known for scoring films such as Watchmen (2009), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and John Wick (2014). Bates is also in charge of the film’s score and soundtrack.

Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo is providing percussion for the score, and Black Label Society guitarist/frontman Zakk Wylde is providing guitar fx. In the preview, Carach Angren’s “Skull with a Forked Tongue” plays during the credits.

There’s also some notable voice acting by Black Veil Brides frontman Andy Biersack as Batman, Chelsea Wolfe as Wonder Woman and actor/comedian Charles Fleischer as both The Batman Who Laughs and The Joker.

The soundtrack will be released by Loma Vista Recordings, but the full list of artists featured and 2021 release date are yet to be announced. Rise Against’s “Broken Dreams, Inc.” was teased as the lead single from the soundtrack, and will be released on Wednesday, September 16.

Rise Against’s frontman Tim McIlrath spoke about the band’s involvement in the soundtrack, “Personally, being involved with this soundtrack is really fantastic, Growing up, my little brother and I would ride our bikes to the newsstand near our house and spend all our money on the latest comic books, and Batman was a favorite. Also, Zach, our guitarist, is probably the biggest comic book geek in our band. He’s talked about how, along with his brother and father, they were all big DC fans – Batman, Robin, Superman, Aquaman, all the comic book series, the TV shows, and feature films. So, yes, we’re all very excited about being part of this.”

Bates also commented on the soundtrack, “In Dark Nights: Death Metal, Loma Vista Recordings and I saw an opportunity to bring artists together to create a diverse soundtrack that is inspired directly by this incredible comic series. Our intent is not to literally create a death metal soundtrack, but instead, to illuminate the darkest corners of each character’s psyche from an authentic perspective that is thematically inherent in death metal music.”

A trailer for the crossover event was released a few months ago, with Marilyn Manson and Bates’ 2015 song “Warship My Wreck” as the accompanying music. 

2018’s Dark Nights: Metal also came with a short soundtrack. The six-song EP featured some big names, including members of Sleigh Bells, Alice in Chains, Deftones and In This Moment.

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat