Even EA Sports and Metallica didn’t see what just hit them: A sound that could rock the very heavens where thrash metal meets marching band. The two distant titans then announced a very absurd event called “For Whom the Band Tolls,” in which marching bands all over the U.S. will compete for a one-time chance to not only record the next CFB theme song but also a Metallica song that will make its way into the game down the line. Yes, you heard right. A Metallica *song*. Played by a marching band. In a video game.
So here it is, right: Whoever takes this brawl from Division 1 will set foot on that field (virtually and IRL?) to belt out the version of CFB’s anthem. But the real pot of gold here would be recording a Metallica banger for a future game installment. Picture “Enter Sandman” with some heavy tuba action and trombone-popping. Or throw in “Master of Puppets” with a drumline that could wake the dead. Talk about a crossover that makes you go, “Wait, how has this not happened already?”
It’s unusual hype given that the EA Sports College Football series has virtually gone off the face of the Earth since 2013. And Metallica, right now? Theo soundtrack for Stranger Things? Dropping albums? Marching in the marching band world-now that’s a flex. An unusual flex, but it does work.
The For Whom the Band Tolls competition is obviously a play on the classic Metallica song For Whom the Bell Tolls-ingenious or silly, depending on how deep your love for puns runs. (Spoiler: We love it.) No word yet on how bands will be able to enter the whole process, let alone how judging is to take place, but you know schools-spiritual music powerhouses are probably already pulling the sheets out of the dust.
And, let’s be real, it couldn’t get any competitive. Ohio State’s TBDBITL against USC’s Spirit of Troy: a metal stare-off with the weightiest of arguments. Or some starving band’s rendition of ‘One,’ so sick and heavy, it shatters the Richter scale. Anything goes from here on out, and the Internet is *not* ready for the madness.
No date has been given for when the winning tracks will hit the game, but given the EA Sports College Football targets 2024, let the countdown begin! One thing we know is this collab is going to be louder than a stadium full of air horns. And boy, are we *here* for it.
So grab those imaginary drumsticks; this war of the bands is about to get *epic*.
