Song of the Day: Immortal Imperium (by Jesper Kyd)


Jesper Kyd’s Immortal Imperium is one of those tracks that immediately tells you exactly where you are: deep in the grim, overbuilt nightmare of Warhammer 40,000. It has that massive, oppressive scale the setting needs, but it never settles for sounding like generic sci-fi battle music. The heavy electronic pulse, ominous choir work, and mechanical textures make it feel like a hymn being blasted through the speakers of a hive city while factories churn, alarms scream, and thousands of people march toward jobs or wars they probably will not survive.

What makes the piece work so well is how naturally it channels 40K’s particular brand of gothic industrial opera. The choirs bring in the religious side of the Imperium, with all its worship, ceremony, and Emperor-centered fanaticism, while the synths and pounding rhythms supply the cold machinery beneath it all. It sounds sacred, but in an intimidating and almost inhuman way. You can picture enormous cathedral walls covered in smoke, servitors working beneath statues of saints, and the constant hum of ancient systems that nobody fully understands anymore.

Kyd also captures the fact that the Imperium is supposed to be impressive and horrifying at the same time. Immortal Imperium has real grandeur to it; the music makes the setting feel enormous, ancient, and powerful. But there is no clean sense of triumph in it. The momentum feels more like an endless machine pushing forward, powered by fear, faith, violence, and habit. That is very much the Darktide version of 40K: humanity is still standing, technically, but it is surviving inside a decaying system that treats every person as another disposable part.

As a soundtrack piece, Immortal Imperium does a great job of making Tertium feel bigger than the missions themselves. Even when the player is just fighting through corridors, sewage systems, transit stations, or ruined manufactorums, this kind of music reminds you that those spaces are part of a colossal and uncaring empire. It is dramatic, grimy, religious, mechanical, and weirdly beautiful—the exact mix that makes Warhammer 40,000 such a distinctive universe.

Song of the Day: We Are One By Lydia


When the infamous epic Caligula was first released back in 1979, a disco version of Caligula’s love theme — We Are One — was also released as a promotional gimmick.

This song is so over-the-top, so blatantly exploitive, so insidiously catchy, and so totally inappropriate for so many reasons that become clear after you watch the film it was written for that it simply cannot be ignored.  To me, this song represents everything that makes the Grindhouse great.

(As well, I hope whoever was playing bass got paid extra…)

Song of the Day: Diamonds Are Forever, performed by Shirley Bassey


Today, on Sean Connery’s birthday, our song of the day is the theme for one of my favorite Bond films.  I know that some people claim that Diamonds are Forever is a lesser Bond film but personally, I think it’s just silly enough to be effective.  James Bond and Las Vegas are a match made in heaven.

Song of the Day: Little People Blues by Vincent & Pesci


Today’s song of the day is an instrumental that was recorded and released in 1972.  Frank Vincent is playing the drums.  Joe Pesci is on guitar.  Even if not for the celebrity connection, I would love this song.  It’s really good!