Progressive metal legends Mastodon shared a new song called “Forged By Neron” from the upcoming Dark Nights: Death Metal soundtrack. It’s the second official single from the soundtrack, which will be released digitally on June 18 and physically on July 16 through DC Comics and Loma Vista Recordings.

“Forged By Neron” opens strong with just a couple bars of guitar riffing before frontman Troy Sanders comes in with his powerful voice. It’s a short song with just a couple verses, some dramatic melodic choruses and lead guitarist Brett Hinds shredding through a solo for the outro. Altogether, it’s a dark, hellish song with lyrics fitting of its titular reference to a demon lord of hell from the Dark Nights series.

Drummer Brann Dailor stated on behalf of Mastodon, “We are super excited and honored to be part of the Dark Nights: Death Metal Soundtrack! We’ve all been fans of DC Comics and the Batman universe since we were kids, so it really means a lot for us to be able to add something to that world.”

The Dark Nights: Death Metal comic series is not only a comic series, but an entire comic event themed around a convergence of all main DC storylines. The comic is paired with an accompanying short film and soundtrack executive produced by Tyler Bates, who is known for his work on the scores for films including Watchmen (2009), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and John Wick (2014). It follows-up the Dark Nights: Metal series from 2018, which was also given an accompanying music soundtrack featuring the likes of Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Chino Moreno of Deftones and Maria Brink of In This Moment, among others.

When the short film for the event was announced, it was revealed that former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo would be playing percussion for the score and Black Label Society guitarist/frontman Zakk Wylde would be providing guitar/effects. In addition, Black Veil Brides frontman Andy Biersack did the voice acting for Batman, Chelsea Wolfe played Wonder Woman and professional actor/comedian Charles Fleischer acted as both The Batman Who Laughs and The Joker.

Other artists appearing on the soundtrack include Chelsea Wolfe, HEALTH featuring Chino Moreno, Maria Brink featuring Andy Biersack, Grey Daze, Rise Against, Manchester Orchestra, Denzel Curry & PlayThatBoiZay, Carach Angren, Starcrawler, GUNSHIP featuring Dave Lombardo, Greg Puciato & Gil Sharone, Show Me The Body, IDLES and Soccer Mommy. Producer Tyler Bates is also all over the soundtrack.

Rise Against were the first artist to share a single from the Death Metal soundtrack with “Broken Dreams, Inc.” After that, volumes and accompanying episodes from the short film began coming out, showing off Wolfe’s acting, Lombardo and Wylde’s score and snippets of songs from the soundtrack including “Forged by Neron” and works by other artists like HEALTH and Starcrawler. There are also plans in the works for other artists that aren’t featured on the soundtrack to take part in the Dark Nights: Death Metal universe, including Megadeth, Ghost, Lacuna Coil, Opeth, Sepultura, Dream Theater and Ozzy Osbourne.

Photo credit: Boston Lynn Schulz