Sydney metal band Battlesnake has swindled some cash out of Xbox to record a music video around Total War: Warhammer III. The song was recorded to promote Total War: Warhammer III, which dropped on Game Pass for PC this morning. TW: WHIII is a strategy game by The Creative Assembly that pits the armies of the Warhammer Fantasy tabletop wargame against one another in the digital realm.
The song, called Death Is Like A Winter Chill, is based on an in-universe Oblast fireside song called The Heart Is A New Strung Bow from the tabletop game’s 2nd edition. The lyrics:
“The heart is as a new-strung bow
It knows not its strength ‘til tested
Yet though it wound its target deep
‘Tis the bowman’s flesh that festers
A woman is as a new-cut axe
She needs no strength for rending
Yet though she bests at every clash
She yields at battle’s ending
A fray is as a blazing hearth
Where life and death are found
Our enemies driven back in fear
Our hearts with brothers bound
Death is like the winter chill
No door can keep it from us
And summer yet may bloom again
Though ice be all upon us.“
The song featured prominently in trailers and marketing for Total War: Warhammer III. Battlesnake itself is known for drawing inspiration from the fantasy genre and turning it into heavy, riffy metal, making the band an obvious choice to cover it. “Battlesnake was forged deep in the fiery pits of the underworld, so we share a mutual respect with those who wage battle in the Realm of Chaos,” said singer and bassist Elliott Hitchcock.
The music video, which you can see above, was shot at Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory and directed cinematographer Anthony Rose.
Total War: Warhammer III is out now on PC via Steam and Game Pass for PC.