‘Cult Of The Lamb’ team up with legends of metal for ‘Famine’

25 October, 2024

'Cult Of The Lamb: Hymns Of The Unholy' vinyl.

Cute, creepy adventure game Cult Of The Lamb has shared ‘Famine’ from its upcoming metal EP – listen to the intense track exclusively on NME below.

READ MORE: ‘Cult Of The Lamb’ review: a gripping game grappling with its own depth

In Cult Of The Lamb, players take on the role of a possessed lamb saved from annihilation by an ominous stranger and must repay their debt by recruiting a loyal following of woodland creatures by any means necessary. The hit game has sold over 4.5million copies since it was first released in 2022 and features dungeon building, resource collecting and demon slaying.

River Boy’s original soundtrack is a collection of chirpy, synth-pop-inspired cuts, but Cult Of The Lamb’s new ‘Hymns Of The Unholy’ EP takes six of those songs and gives them an intense metal reworking. The project was curated by Pick Up Goliath’s Sam George and features a rotating cast of metal legends.

Trivium’s Matt Heafy, former Killswitch Engage and current Light The Torch vocalist Howard Jones and While She Sleep’s Sean Long are all involved in the project, as are Malevolence’s Josh Bains, ex-Monuments’ Mike Meylan, Animals As Leader’s Javier Reyes and Scott LePage and Clay Gober from Polyphia.

So far, creators Massive Monster have shared two of the tracks, ‘Cult’ and ‘Chaos’, and now fans can listen to ‘Famine’ below, exclusively on NME.

“This is the first video game thing that I’ve done. I’d heard of Cult Of The Lamb but when the team reached out about the project, I really started diving into the world,” says Polyphia guitarist Scott LePage, who features on ‘Famine’ and ‘Cult’.

“I love the story. It’s got all these cutesy characters but the game is about recruiting people to this cult, which is a lot of fun. The original music is also brilliant. As soon as I heard it, I knew I could add some cool guitar.” For ‘Cult’, he leant into the “goofy atmosphere” of the game but wanted to create something “intense” for ‘Famine’. “I wanted it to sound heavy and I wanted it to growl.”

The project was created bit-by-bit, with each musician adding their part to the songs before passing it onto the next person. “Getting to work with friends and people I look up to in the metal scene was so cool. We were all allowed to just do our own thing as well,” continued LePage. “It’s cool to see these worlds crossover and hopefully it will introduce people to how exhilarating metal can be.”

CULT OF THE LAMB METAL ALBUM?!

HYMNS OF THE UNHOLY will be out in full on October 28th.

You can LISTEN to CULT right NOW, our single, while you wait!

The journey of creating this album with iconic metal artists has been incredible! So proud! pic.twitter.com/2DfpPKpP5x

— The Goat (@cultofthelamb) October 21, 2024

Howard Jones has dabbled in gaming metal crossovers before. As part of Killswitch Engage, their track ‘My Curse’ was included in Guitar Hero 2 while ‘My Obsession’ featured on a companion EP ‘Blood & Metal’ for God Of War 3. “It’s been a while though, and this was a lot of fun,” he told NME.

“The animation, the gameplay and the music of Cult Of The Lamb is all really interesting, so that’s what piqued my curiosity. I’m terrible at keeping followers but I love the story. That’s what I used for my lyrics,” Howard continued, providing vocals on ‘Famine’, ‘Cult’ and ‘Conquest’. “Not having to mine my own trauma for the music was definitely a plus but I still wanted to make sure there was something for the listener to latch their teeth into.

“‘Famine’ is even more off-kilter than ‘Cult’, but they all have their own vibe,” he continued. “Each song felt completely different from the last. I had no idea who else was involved when I did my vocals but looking at the range of talent, it’s easy to see why the music is as challenging, diverse and fun as it is.”

In a statement, Trivium’s Matt Heafy explained: “There’s such a natural link between video games, heavy metal and the game’s themes that a collaboration like this just makes sense.”

“Getting to do things that are more than just metal is really enjoyable,” said Jones of the crossover. “I’ve been making music for a long time now and a project like this still gives me goosebumps. Of course you’ll always get people who want things to stay as they are and don’t like things mixing but when different worlds interact, that’s when you get some really great stuff. Music doesn’t stay stagnant.“

‘Hymns Of The Unholy’ will hit streaming services on October 28 and can be pre-saved here. A vinyl version of the record is available to pre-order here.