Occasionally a TV show surprises you with something so unexpected you can’t stop thinking about it for hours, days, even weeks after an episode airs. The latest episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power did just that, offering up a moment that immediately etched itself onto my brain and has remained there for nearly a week. Season two of the Amazon Prime series is a marked improvement from the first season, with tighter storylines and elevated stakes—though it still meanders a bit too much for my liking, it’s been a thoroughly enjoyable series to catch every week. But nothing thus far has stuck with me like the end credits song from the season’s penultimate seventh episode, titled “Doomed to Die.”
If you’re someone who immediately shuts a show off as soon as the credits start to roll, you may have missed this. After Adar snatches Galadriel’s ring from Elrond, the screen snaps to black and intense drums ring out. Before you even have a chance to read the first credit, a throaty, intense metal voice starts chanting. Yes, a metal song is playing in a Lord of the Rings television show, and it’s fucking awesome.
Called “The Last Ballad of Damrod,” the song was written by series composer Bear McCreary (the same man behind the music in the God of War reboot series), and sung by legendary musician Jens Kidman. Kidman is the frontman for and one of the founders of Meshuggah, a Swedish extreme metal band that is widely considered one of the best modern metal bands of all time.
The song is named after and tells the story of the troll Damrod, who joins Adar’s forces for the Siege of Eregion and wipes the floor with the city and many elves defending it until Elrdon, Arondir, and Gil-galad step in and kil the guy. Naturally, this ass-kicking troll (who apparently eats dragon bones) would be the perfect subject for a heavy metal song. I mean, check out these batshit lyrics:
In humid mold, troll sits alone
No friend or kin to call his own
Troll gnaws on skins, raw shanks and shins
Rips meat from reeking dragon bone
With laughter deep and throaty groan
He rises from his seat of stone
From darkened cave, a bloodlust crave
Set loose upon the hills to roam
I’ve had “The Last Ballad of Damrod” on repeat since episode 7 aired last week. It was such a lovely surprise, such an unexpected thing to hear at the end of a Rings of Power episode—but also something that just works. The relationship between high fantasy and metal music is a lengthy one, so McCreary’s choice to write such a badass song and enlist a legend of the genre to sing it is so brilliantly inspired. I’m pretty sure I PRed nearly all my lifts at the gym today while blasting this through my headphones.
The Rings of Power season 2 finale drops this Thursday, October 3 on Amazon Prime.
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