Heavy Metal and Fantasy have long been cousins/siblings in art. Hell, I attended a panel on the subject at New York Comic Con about a decade on the subject featuring one of the co-authors, Peter Orullian. When I learned Brandon Sanderson brought Peter Orullian onboard to craft this story, I knew I would want to get my hands on a copy. Fortunately, the fine folks at Saga Press were more than happy to oblige since they pitched it to me unasked! This novel is a blend of dark fantasy/urban fantasy with a little bit of creepiness thrown in… all with a heavy metal soundtrack.
This is… Songs of the Dead!
When Jack Solomon, a struggling musician who works in London’s West End, is killed, he awakens to a new reality in which light and music are used to create magic and where living eras of the past sprawl beneath modern London, layer upon layer, all the way back to recorded history.
Jack also soon discovers that many of those who reside in the stratums of London’s past have grown angry with the present world, and that their anger is being channeled by a powerful society of light-and-music-based magic wielders who can cross the realms between life and death, between the present and the past. A past where the dead are sowing revolution against the living, and all of history is at stake.
Welcome to the Strata Wars.
Meet Jack Solomon … a musician who moved to London in the hopes of kickstarting his music career. Unfortunately, as we meet Jack, his band Hounds of Winter (cool name) fires him just before they are about to play Wembley Stadium and that isn’t even the worst thing to happen to him because Jack is murdered shortly after that when he’s walking the streets at night with Henry, the man who all but adopted Jack when he moved to London. Don’t worry, though, he got better but not until he is pulled through a flaming purgatory and told by Henry that he’s got more to do in the world.
What Jack learns is that the found family he fell into in West London know about another side of London. A London where magic is real and fueled by music. The West London Jack knows is just one version, one layer or version of London.
When he returns to the world he knew, Jack finds himself at odds with a man claiming to be an old friend of Henry’s but his presence and words have a sinister undertone. Much of the novel from the point of Jack’s rebirth (which is frankly the bulk of the novel) involves Jack learning about the layers… or Strata… of the world, realizing his love of music and long-felt thoughts about the power of music held more truth than he could imagine. As it turns out Jack has the potential to be a powerful wielder of magic, or as his specific powers align here, a “thanatist.”
Jack is a likeable character and the thing I appreciated the most about him and the novel is he immediately believed what was happening. Sanderson and Orullian didn’t spin their wheels for chapters/pages of Jack trying to be convinced of the Strata, magic, and situation he found himself. He was eager to learn, eager to do what was right. A big part of that is the connection he had with Henry. That connection led Henry to designate Jack as his heir and the one to inherit Henry’s bar, the Iron Horse. Jack spent most of his waking hours at the Horse, but it is more than just a bar. Yeah, it is a home for Jack’s found family, but it is also a major portal of sorts for layers of the Strata. Of course, Jack wasn’t aware of this until he died and was reborn, but Henry’s old friend was most definitely aware and is urging Jack to “partner” with him to “protect” the Strata & London.
The early portions of the novel are VERY heavy with the lore dump/world building and music references. I found the lore of the Strata to be almost overwhelming to digest along with getting a sense of the characters. Fortunately, I was on board with Jack and his music tastes, the connection I made to him helped to pull me through the narrative and focus on his journey with his found family, his path to healing his trauma, and doing right by his father figure. I liked him and really wanted his good heart and soul to win out in the end. Without characters in whom we can invest, what’s the point of continuing on with a story?
The heavy absorption of the lore does work in showing how much Jack really needs to process as he’s trying to navigate his way in the larger world (or worlds) which is new to him. The concept of found family is done really well and the overriding theme of the power of music was heart-felt, genuine, and a great throughline in the novel. Those two themes came together quite nicely as ways for a person to overcome trauma, a major struggle for Jack.
Having read novels by both writers, I can probably guess “who did what” in the story. I (and many readers) played the same game when we all read The Talisman by King and Straub – another novel that reveals more worlds living alongside ours.
Songs of the Dead is definitely a novel with its heart in the right place which helped me to enjoy the journey.
© 2026 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover | Saga Press
June 2026 | 464 Pages
https://www.brandonsanderson.com/ | https://www.orullian.rocks/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
