Dead Man Walking : Zach Adams Delivers a Powerful Alternative Metal Soundtrack for His Horror Novel
If you’re a fan of novels/books, you’d know how most book soundtracks are just a bunch of quiet, moody instrumental tracks you play in the background while trying not to fall asleep on the couch. But Anchorage-based fantasy writer and musician Zach Adams clearly missed that memo. He didn’t want to do the normal, and instead of giving us a gentle background noise for their new horror/fantasy novel, ‘Dead Man Walking: Narrator’s Cut’, Zach decided to go hard on this one and gave us a very monstrous track. He called this one “Dead Man Walking“, and this original single serves as the official alternative metal theme song for the book. It’s the very first track of an upcoming 11-song soundtrack album released under Splitting Adams Entertainment.
So to ma novel readers out there or music enthusiasts who love their fantasy stories with heavy distortion and serious attitude, you are going to want to play this track and enjoy every piece of it whilst your headphones volumes are up. The song was produced directly by Zach, and the production on “Dead Man Walking” hits like a ton of bricks thrown at you. I love how it doesn’t come in soft, and straight up goes for raw, heavy aggression which actually captures the book beautifully.
When you listen to the track, the instrumentation leans much on dark, crushing guitar riffs that borrow a page straight out of the Black Sabbath and Metallica playbooks. And you can see that inspiration all over the place. The way those guitars carry a thick, gritty distortion that drives the whole track forward, while the drums lock into a thunderous, relentless beat is just wholesome, it will leave you wanting to bounce your ahead around.
But there’s something that’s unique in here, and that’s underneath all that heavy metal grit, is a subtle, eerie theatrical vibe weaving through the melody. It’s really good and soothes and that’s thanks to the influence of classic Danny Elfman, his fingerprints can be felt in its arrangement. It blends that dark, spooky storytelling feel with the thick, sludgy grunge energy of Alice in Chains. The vocals then sit right in the middle of the chaos, moving from dark, moody verses into a huge, soaring chorus that demands your full attention. It’s like you can’t even turn your ears away, cause those heavy guitars are just gonna sweep your attention back to it.
One thing about this song is, aside those heavy guitars and spooky book connections, “Dead Man Walking” explores themes that many of us will relate to. Many of us wake up to battle a lot of things that we wish we overcome. I like how the song uses horror imagery to tackle a very real, very human struggle that sometimes overwhelm us, and thus the weight of anxiety and inner turmoil. The lyrics just dive straight into that awful feeling of being trapped inside your own head, walking around like a ghost while fighting a battle nobody else can see. You keep on going, putting on fake smiles, but inside you, it’s just too much for you to handle yet, people just don’t even get it.
It takes that suffocating, panic-inducing energy of anxiety and channels it directly into music. The heavy, explosive chorus acts like a giant emotional release valve. It gives you a way to scream back at the stress, turning quiet fear into pure, loud energy, and this is what many of us needs. Sometimes you don’t have to go around keeping those stress, anxiety and struggles within you, you gotta push them out and scream at them. So whether you are reading the novel or just trying to survive a chaotic week, this song wants you to know that though you might feel like the walking dead sometimes, but you’re still in the fight, so keep going.
“Dead Man Walking” is a killer blend of heavy metal grit, theatrical flair, and genuine emotional honesty. It proves that book soundtracks can be just as loud and aggressive as any club show. It’s the perfect track to throw on your gym playlist, your late-night driving queue, or whenever you need to blast away a bad mood with some heavy guitars. The single is streaming on all major platforms right now. Go check out “Dead Man Walking” on major streaming platforms, and get ready to headbang your way through the darkness!
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