A new Game of Thrones Season Four trailer strikes the most darkly ominous tone yet for the HBO fantasy series, climaxing with the blunt declaration , “All men must die.” You can’t get much darker than that.
The trailer, featuring an encore clip of Tyrion Lannister played by U.S. actor Peter Dinklage warning, “If they want justice, they’ve come to the wrong place” — which promises to be a theme of the April 6 premiering Game of Thrones season — underscores its grim tone with a dirge-like version of the 1985 hit single by Siouxsie & The Banshees, “Cities In Dust.”
The grinding, slowed-down cover version of the post-punk classic is performed by Baltimore-based indie band The Everlove. Actually, the Game of Thrones trailer is the second use of the Everlove “Cities In Dust” cover in a promotional clip. The recording earlier graced the soundtrack to a trailer for the video game, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron .
“Cities In Dust” was written by Siouxise & The Banshees, an English group led by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux, whose real name is Susan Ballion. She started the group in 1976 London when she was 19 years old at the height of Britain’s punk movement. But Siouxise & The Banshees outlived the punk rock scene to become one of the most successful and creative bands of both the post-punk and goth genres.
The cryptic, goth-inspired lyrics to “Cities In Dust” fit the Game of Thrones Season Four trailer perfectly, even slowed down and sung in growling bass tones by Everlove vocalist Ryan Keaton.
Interestingly, Siouxsie Sioux wrote those words inspired by a visit to the Roman city of Pompeii , which in 79 A.D. was reduced to dust by lava and ash from the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. On Friday of this week, the ancient Pompeii disaster is dramatized in an action film , Pompeii , which stars Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington — known to Game of Thrones fans as “Jon Snow” — in his big-screen debut.
Check out the ominous Game of Thrones Season Four trailer, followed below by the Everlove version of “Cities In Dust” and finally, the memorable Siouxsie & The Banshees original, which reached Number 17 on the U.S. Dance Club charts in 1985.
