Songs of the Dead: Should You Care?

Songs of the Dead hits shelves June 16. It is a modern fantasy about a heavy metal necromancer. And it almost never happened.

If you have followed Brandon Sanderson for any stretch of time, you already know the guy does not sit still. He writes at a pace that makes other authors sweat. He shares project updates like clockwork. And back in 2010, he teased something weird.

A story called Death by Pizza!

The protagonist was a pizza delivery guy. He was also a necromancer. The concept bounced around Sanderson's head for over a decade, undergoing numerous revisions and major changes. The pizza guy got shelved. In his place: a heavy metal frontman named Jack Solomon.

That is where Peter Orullian enters the picture. Orullian, a fantasy author in his own right, has toured as a musician. He knows the culture Sanderson was struggling to pin down. Polygon spoke with Orullian about how the collaboration came together.

Why Orullian Got the Call

Sanderson does not collaborate lightly.

"Brandon usually only collaborates when the person he's collaborating with brings a strength to the work that he doesn't himself have," Orullian told Polygon. "I've toured as a musician. I know the rock and metal culture he had been struggling with."

That is the simple answer. But the friendship runs deeper. The two met at the Life, The Universe, & Everything science fiction and fantasy symposium in Utah. Sanderson ended up blurbing some of Orullian's early fantasy novels. Trust was already there.

Sanderson had built a necromantic magic system called thanaturgy. He had also grown fascinated by how heavy metal culture gets stereotyped and dismissed. Orullian saw the parallel immediately.

Fantasy readers get it. Sci-fi fans get it. You get called a nerd or a geek. You get marginalized for loving something deeply. Metalheads face the same treatment. The book uses that shared experience as its emotional anchor.

Welcome to the Strata

The story is set in London. Not by accident. London is the birthplace of heavy metal.

Jack Solomon discovers the music venue he loves is a gateway. Beyond it lies the Strata, a secret world where thanatists and corporeal ghosts called semblances exist in versions of the city's past. But the past here is slippery.

"The Strata are not a perfect reflection of the past; they're actually sort of an aggregate of memory, and as you know, people's memories are imperfect," Orullian said.

That creative choice is smart. It gives the authors room to play. If the Strata were strict historical fiction, every detail would need to be nailed down. Instead, places and people fade when the living forget them. The world is shaped by what is remembered.

A powerful thanatist and his allies are not happy about modernity. Their plan? Kill songwriters and replace them with undead lookalikes.

What the Book Is Actually About

Yes, there is a magic system. Yes, there is a hidden world. Yes, there is a villain with a terrifying plan.

But Songs of the Dead is a dark, sincere novel. It is not the comedy Sanderson originally imagined.

Jack became a cutter after his brother died and his mother abandoned him. That trauma does not sit in the background. It is central. He grapples with it throughout the book. His coping mechanism becomes the music itself.

"He finds some friends, and he finds the music, and the music becomes a proxy, a way to relieve the pressure that he feels that usually results in him wanting to cut," Orullian said. "His coping mechanism has become music, and that's not uncommon."

That is the kind of detail that tells you what kind of book this is. It is not light reading. It is not escapism without weight. It is about finding your people and finding something that keeps you alive when everything else falls apart.

Music as a Weapon, Music as a Bridge

Orullian sees music as a unifying language. The antagonist hopes to use music to change culture.

"One of the things I love about music is that it's this language that I think can unify. The antagonist hopes to use it in order to change culture, but I really like the idea that music is something that allows people to share an understanding or an experience in the absence of the other opinions that they may hold that would divide them."

That tension drives the novel. Can the thing that brings people together also tear them apart? Jack is about to find out.

The Magic System

Sanderson fans expect inventive magic. Thanaturgy delivers. It is a necromantic system the author developed specifically for this world. But it anchors the Strata and the semblances that dwell there.

What Comes Next

Songs of the Dead is the first book in a planned trilogy called The Strata Wars. Orullian has bigger ambitions beyond that. If the series performs, he wants additional trilogies set in other cities with long histories.

Sanderson has already completed his part. He is back to the Cosmere. Back to the Mistborn movie adaptation at AppleTV. Back to Skyward at Tomorrow Studios.

"He's really pleased with the way that Songs of the Dead came out, and he knows it's in good hands. He knows that I live and breathe the world the same way he lives and breathes the Cosmere."

Should You Care?

That depends.

Do you want a fantasy novel that treats heavy metal culture with respect instead of using it as set dressing? Do you want a protagonist whose pain is not glossed over? Do you want a world built on the idea that memory is fragile and forgetting can erase entire places and people?

If yes, pre-order it. If you are on the fence, here is a quick breakdown of what you are getting:

• A modern fantasy set in London, the birthplace of heavy metal
• A magic system called thanaturgy with corporeal ghosts known as semblances
• A protagonist named Jack Solomon dealing with self-harm, loss, and finding a way forward through music
• A villain who murders songwriters and replaces them with undead doubles
• A world called the Strata where memory shapes reality and forgotten things disappear

Real talk: this is not a Sanderson solo novel with a co-author credit slapped on. Orullian brought the lived experience Sanderson knew he lacked. The book changed shape because it needed to. Death by Pizza! sounds fun. Songs of the Dead sounds like something that might actually stick with you.

June 16. Mark it.