‘Lord Death Man': The Batman-Inspired Song by Indie Musician Sam Mickens [Exclusive]

Many fans were pleased by Batman Inc. writer Grant Morrison's recent resurrection of Lord Death Man, a skull-faced Batman villain who first appeared in an obscure 1960s Batman comic, and later took on a major role in Jiro Kuwata's apocryphal and awesomely weird Bat-Manga. Among those fans? Indie musician Sam Mickens of Xiu Xiu and The Dead Science, who was so inspired that he wrote a song called "Lord Death Man" for his upcoming solo album Slay and Slake, which we're pleased to debut today on ComicsAlliance."Lord Death Man" by Sam Mickens:

Mickens told ComicsAlliance that he is "a very serious lifelong comics fan" who got back into the habit three and a half years ago thanks to the penultimate issue of Batman R.I.P. by Grant Morrison. "The song 'Lord Death Man,' which was the first I wrote and recorded for this record, was very much sparked by the character's appearance in the first couple issues of Batman Inc.; while the song deals with the character as basically kind of a thematic jumping off point its lyrics can also be read very literally as 'about' the character," said Mickens.

Slay and Slake also includes a track titled "Grisly Ghouls" that features rapper and comics creator MF Grimm, best known for his Eisner-nominated Vertigo graphic novel Sentences, and his collaborations with MF Doom.

Official Press Release:

Slay & Slake, the debut full length from Sam Mickens (The Dead Science, Xiu Xiu, Parenthetical Girls) will be released Nov. 22nd on 180g LP and for digital download by Brooklyn imprint Shatter Your Leaves. An avant-glam masterpiece of epic design and execution, it harkens back to the grand "concept albums" of the 60s and 70s like Forever Changes and What's Going On. Composed and performed entirely by Mickens and recorded with SYL head Stuart Watson at his Crazy Cat House studio in Brooklyn over several manic all-night sessions, Slay & Slake features a diverse choir of guest vocalists, including Craig Wedren (Shudder to Think), Zac Pennington, (Parenthetical Girls) and underground NY rap legend MF Grimm. The record also includes partial covers/interpolations of songs by Freddie Mercury & Michael Jackson, The Righteous Brothers, and Extra Life.
A collection of remixes of all ten of the album's songs, by Deerhoof, Former Ghosts, Burning Star Core, Pictureplane, MF Grimm, and more will be available for free download with pre-order of the LP at shatteryourleaves.com.
Slay & Slake tracks:
Lord Death Man

Grisly Ghouls (ft. MF Grimm)

No Reason

Masked Woman

Witch's Cauldron

Rip & Rig

Elegy (Cartoon Piano)

At the Mountains of Madness/Ebb Tide

Goodnight Human Torch/There Must Be More to Life Than This

The Will to Live