Follow The Leader

As BRING ME THE HORIZON drop epic single LUDENS on the DEATH STRANDING: TIMEFALL soundtrack, OLI SYKES reflects on the song’s inspiring message – and how the world needs a hero…

- Emily Carter

For a while there, Oli Sykes had lost faith in humanity. The Bring Me The Horizon frontman spent a great deal of 2019 trying to figure out the wider world and found himself wondering where things had gone so very wrong. “There’s so much shit going on,” he sighs. “Environmental issues, and all this stuff where you’re bombarded with a new problem every day…”

Oli was perpetually worrying about these issues when an unexpected offer was put to him and his bandmates: did they want to release a brand-new song as part of the soundtrack to highly-anticipated video game Death Stranding? It was a no-brainer for the rock titans, who are longtime fans of the project’s legendary creator, Hideo Kojima. And Oli decided that he would use this opportunity to spread a message of hope into the world. Enter Ludens – Bring Me The Horizon’s boldest musical effort to date. With its, ‘I need a new leader / We need a new Luden…’ refrain, the genre-smashing, four-and-a-half-minute single not only ties in with Death Stranding to keep video game fans happy, it also serves as the next lyrical step for Oli, who is learning how to use his platform to promote change…

Tell us about Ludens, Oli. Were you sent Death Stranding footage as you were writing the song so you could envision how it was going to fit within the game?

“Not really, to be honest! They didn’t give us any instructions for what it was supposed to sound or be like. It was a Monday at this point and our management was like, ‘It has to be done by Saturday, otherwise, they can’t use it.’ There was no leeway on that.