Awesome Music / Call of Duty: Zombies

Nazi Zombies has a soundtrack of its own, and dear god is it awesome. Even more so when you figure out that most of the lyrical songs are in a character's point of view.

Each lyrical song is found by interacting with various items in a certain map's environment, like blowing up barrels or finding three rocks of Element 115.

For more Awesome Music from the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare series, see this page.

Call of Duty: World at War

• The Hidden Radio song in "Nacht Det Untoten" is both a case of Awesome Music and Nightmare Fuel, as it captures both the adrenaline-filled desperation and fast-paced action of later zombie waves.
• The first ever Nazi Zombies song was in the second map, "Verruckt". Lullaby For A Dead Man is possibly the biggest contrast from the rest of the song, but that doesn't change how awesome it is. Most figure this song to be in Samantha's POV.
• The third map, "Shi No Numa", brings us The One. Surely one of the creepiest zombie songs, but it's justifiable, seeing as it's most likely in the POV of a Zombie.
• The final World At War map, "Der Riese", gives Beauty Of Annihilation. It doesn't even require an explanation to say how amazing it is, just listen for yourself. POV is assumed to be the four survivors.
• There's a song in "Der Riese" for the Hellhound boss rounds that's hidden in the game's files, thus never used. Judging by how it sounds, it's actually a wonder why they didn't keep it.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops

• The Nazi Zombies menu screen now has a theme of its own, Damned. While not like the other songs, it certainly holds up in its own right. They even decided to make it the very faint background music for "Kino Der Toten" and "Five".
• In the remake of "Nacht Der Untoten", the hidden song is Undone. Certainly sounds much different from the many other songs, however is still an incredibly good listen. Has a bitchin' piano solo by the middle, as well. It's slow, melancholy, and dreary but intoxicating, and a nice contrast from the ever escalating battle against the undead.
• The first map, "Kino Der Toten", has 115. Bringing back the intense feel of "Beauty Of Annihilation", it can only be described as pure awesome. Every match on "Kino Der Toten" has players scrambling to activate this song for all to hear while they conduct their own zombie slaughter. Even better when you realize it's in Samantha's point of view. Even more awesome (and comical) is that players recalling their time in Black Ops 1 Zombies with this song playing have repeatedly claimed it activated some kind of god mode, claiming that nobody ever went down with "115" playing.
• Five spawned the first instance of a Real Song Theme Tune: Eminem's "Won't Back Down".
• Dead Ops Arcade has a bunch of songs in it, one for each different area. The whole soundtrack, more or less, replicates the feel of much younger video game songs excellently. The soundtrack can be found on Kevin Sherwood's channel.
• Abracadavre is just indescribable. It perfects the zombie slaying action of Ascension, and by the time you can finally activate it by opening up all the doors, it completes the experience. Samantha's POV.
• Avenged Sevenfold's Not Ready To Die, on Call Of The Dead, is the longest song so far, and holds up just as well as the others. The amount of references to the Nazi Zombies storyline and feel of the song is exactly why it deserves its spot here. The first Black Ops song to be not in Samantha's point of view, but rather Richtofen's.
• Pareidolia from Shangri-La keeps up a constant intense feel of awesomeness. While the lyrics might be hard to get at first, they make more sense as the song itself listened to more, and when the song is considered in Richtofen's POV. The piano solo at the end is beautiful, too. As a side note, the title "Pareidolia" means something ordinary that is instead perceived with much greater importance.
• Coming Home from "Moon". The metal screaming, the riffs, the drums, it perfectly captures the situation of "Moon".
• "Nightmare" is another song provided by Avenged Sevenfold that wasn't original to the soundtrack, but it's a hell of an addition nonetheless to "Moon". The lyrics manage to stay in touch with the story of the map, especially the warning "you should’ve known the price of evil". It's a tricky song to unlock but it's damn worth it, and a great season finale.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops II

• The menu theme, "Damned", gets a remix as of Black Ops 2. Now named "Damned 100ae", it doesn't exactly carry the creepy feel of the original, but it still retains its great feel.
• The song heard at the diner in "Tranzit", Lovesong for a Deadman, is a massive throwback to the music of the 1950s and 1960s, and still sounds just as great.
• The main theme of "Tranzit", Carrion, doubles as both an intense zombie slaying song, and a Badass Boast for the new main antagonist, Richtofen. The song has received some negative reception for switching singers from fan loved Elena Siegman to Clark S. Nova, but it might be to indicate the change from Samantha to Richtofen as the main antagonist.
• "Die Rise"'s theme, We All Fall Down, is one of the shortest zombie songs to date. However, the song makes up for it with its incredible references and focus on the storyline, and incredible lyrics overall.
  • The title, "We All Fall Down", and a lot of the song's content, is a direct reference to the Bubonic Plague, or Black Death; one of the worst plagues in known history. The lyrics of the song suggest that the new Element 115 plague bears much relation to the plague itself.
  • The song has quite a few Latin and scientific terms that you might not understand without looking it up or listening to it several times:
    • Xenopsylla Cheopis is the Oriental Rat Flea, most notably known for being a prime carrier of the Bubonic Plague. MDCLXV refers to the Great Plague of London in the year 1665.
    • A helicase is a class of enzymes vital to all living organisms. CXV translates to Element 115, a key part of the Nazi Zombies storyline.
    • Ferritin is a protein that stores iron.
    • Vivo translates to life in Latin. The phrase 'in Vivo' (used in the song) refers to an experiment in which an organism is used fully alive instead of partially or fully dead.
    • Vitro literally translates to 'glass' in Latin, however the phrase 'in Vitro' (used in the song) refers to studies in experimental biology in which an organism is isolated from it's normal environment.
    • Tallowy refers to the hard fat in animals, while Offal refers to their internal organs.
  • The song was at first considered to be in Richtofen's point of view. However, it was later decided that the song fit more in Doctor Maxis' point of view, thus marking the first song in which a song is in his point of view. The song retells his relationship with Richtofen and what's going on in the world with the zombie plague.
• "Mob of the Dead" gets the shortest Easter Egg song to date, but it's just so beautiful. "Where Are We Going" feels like a cross between a haunting lullaby and a Hans Zimmer score piece. The length only becomes a problem since you want the song to be longer! Series newcomer Malukah delivers an incredible addition to the Zombies soundtrack.
  • It would seem that the song is from the mobsters' point of view, fitting with the Afterlife Mode and their debate as to whether they are dead or in purgatory, as well as what's really going on and where do they go.
  • It's a stretch, but the song may be from the community's point of view. Mob of the Dead changed up a lot of stuff and introduced new things, leading to some initial ire. We, as the community, ask where is the story taking us from here? How will things change even further?
  • At another stretch, it is also possible that the song is from the point of view of ALL the main characters; The MOTD characters for the reasons stated above, the Green Run group because they don't know where their quest for Maxis/Richtofen will lead, and the original crew because they are stuck on the moon and don't know what to do now.
  • It has "Rusty Cage", by Johnny Cash, the song that was in the intro, as a minor Easter Egg, although it's not the entire song.
• "Mob of the Dead" also has a full, devoted soundtrack to it, and it sounds appropriately terrifying and hellish. From the sinister, eerie "Underworld" theme that plays as ambiance (which really makes you feel icky, as if you're walking through hell), the epic plane takeoff theme, and the sinister, downbeat Game Over themes, the soundtrack makes "Mob" sound like it's in a world of its own. Perhaps most ominous is the theme that plays during the final step of the Easter egg when the players fly to the Golden Gate Bridge for the last time as spirits. We get a piano cover of Samantha's theme, and there is absolutely NONE of the zaniness or demented cuteness of the original theme here. It's completely serious, quiet, and piercing as you fly to the endgame of the map. Longtime players will be shaken by the incorporation of Samantha's theme, since this signifies that this isn't just a one-off map, and everybody else can still appreciate that, given the revelations of what's really going on, this is the night of reckoning for our cast. And, as the final confrontation is about to prove, only one man can walk away from what's about to happen - or they won't.
• "Buried" gets the longest song yet for Black Ops II, and boy is it worth the wait for a longer song. Malukah returns to sing "Always Running", a song that starts out slowly, but when things pick up, they pick up. Being a slower song, it gives a sort of nostalgic touch to it, similar to "Lullaby for a Deadman" and "The One" all the way back in Verruckt and Shi No Numa. There are several references to past Zombies songs. "Beauty of Annihilation" gets a namedrop (the singer reflects on how far Zombies has come since Der Riese back in 2009), and "Where Are We Going" and "Abracadavre" are also referenced.
  • "Buried" continues the trend of maps having devoted soundtracks. Whereas "Mob" had a dramatic, ethereal, choir-heavy score to emphasize its hellish setting, "Buried" has a dreary Western score for its setting; not just in a western town, but a western town on the edge of the Rift, and at the very end of the world. It perfectly portrays a ghost town that is a ghost town for a reason, and several tracks play up the spiritual, ghost-filled setting.
  • The piece that plays when you enter the church has an ominous, deep voiced choir that reminds you of the spiritual forces at play.
  • "High Noon" plays for the shooting gallery Easter egg step, and is one last moment of levity before the endgame.
  • "Samantha's Desire" plays for the Maxis endgame - that was later revealed to be canon - and is a downbeat, interesting cover of Samantha's theme. It plays as Maxis reveals his true colors and the players realize they’ve been duped.
  • Some (but not all) of Buried's round change music can feel badass while sticking to its westernesque theme, like this one.
• "Shepherd of Fire" isn't an original Zombies song, but man, is it still awesome in the Origins opening cinematic, as we see our favorite classic characters kicking Zombie ass once again.
• "Archangel" is possibly the pinnacle of Zombies music, if only for the fact that it unites all four music artists who've performed for the series so far - Kevin Sherwood, Clark S. Nova, Malukah, and the return of Elena Siegman herself! It's just incredible to hear them all singing together for this (potentially) final hurrah for Zombies. This may also have some relevance to the story of the map, as Samantha, Maxis and Richtofen all work together along with Nikolai, Takeo and Dempsey to set things right. It's positively packed with references to nearly every Zombies song, and it's a great send-off to our favorite Zombie-slaying game. The theatrical mix used in a "theatrical" trailer for Origins is just as good. In fact, some fans feel it is more accurate to the tone of the map itself than the original mix of Archangel.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops III

• "Snakeskin Boots" is the song used in the trailer for the Shadows of Evil map and manages to capture the 40's feel while being incredibly catchy.
• With The Giant being a remade version of Der Riese, it is only fitting the song for that map gets a remix. And it is awesome!
• Elena is back for Der Eisendrache, with the track "Dead Again". It appears hanging out with A7X in Origins has rubbed off, as the song is filled with tremendous guitar riffage and heavy drum beats, contrasting with her angelic singing voice and the demonic growling. Point of view possibly Origins!Tank's as he ponders following Richtofen and killing his older self.
• Zetsubou No Shima brings Malukah back for "Dead Flowers", a melancholic song with some heavy metal. Point of view may be WW2 Takeo's, contemplating his betrayal and the Division 9's experiment that made him a Trasher and ruined the island. The last verse about flowers "growing on their own" might be about his younger self's assurance that they can make a better tomorrow.
• Gorod Krovi throws its own headbanger into the mix in the form of "Dead Ended". This time around, it's Clark S Nova in the driver's seat, and he gives a powerful ode to the dead, and to Richtofen's grander plan that if he succeeds, their story will end for good.
• There's also "Ace of Spades" by Motörhead, which scores the opening cinematic of Gorod Krovi and by god is it epic. Primis flies through a war-torn Stalingrad to find Ultimis!Nikolai, who is having the time of his life annihilating the zombie hordes in a Manticore... while hammered as shit because, well, we are talking about Ultimis!Nikolai here.
• The final map of Black Ops III, and possibly, all of Treyarch Zombies, Revelations, obviously has an Easter egg song of its own, "The Gift", which is written and performed by the original duo, Kevin Sherwood and Elena Siegman (with Malukah on backing vocals). It's possibly one of the best songs yet, which is fitting, since it may be the last song we hear from these two. The theatrical version of "The Gift" is much more haunting and melancholic than the original version, playing alongside a scene featuring Monty bitterly meeting his former friend the Shadow Man again before he destroys The House. It really gives you a sense of the tragedy of this final battle. The piano piece that opens and closes the song, and potentially the final song for the series ever, is also haunting and makes you wonder if there's still anything left to tell...
• The story trailer for "Zombies Chronicles" and later the remastered Origins brings us "Remember Forever", a slow, melancholy song with vocals by Tori Letzer. It’s the final song to be released during the lifetime of the game, and was released at a time when the Aether storyline appeared to be complete, which gave fans a lot to chew on and potentially even closure. The trailer has it as a great accompaniment to this last trip down memory lane, and the lyrics seem to be from Primis Richtofen’s perspective as he tries to save the poor children who never asked for any of the horrors of the series, assuring them that they will find peace and safety at last. Given the Bittersweet Ending of the following game where Eddie and Samantha walk hand in hand to the safe new universe without the fallen Primis and Ultimis, the song may have just been preparing us for that heartbreaking ending all along. Just for good measure, it brings back Samantha's theme as a last coda.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4

• Voyage of Despair gives us "Drowning", which mixes hard rock with also great melancholia.
• In the badass coliseum map, IX, Avenged Sevenfold returns with a track reminiscent of 90s hard rock and alternative metal, “Mad Hatter”.
• A remake of Mob of the Dead meant a remake of "Where Are We Going", and it is ever more heartwrenching than the first one. Not only does it add more lyrics, but the aforementioned Hans Zimmer-esque tone? It's pumped up even further with some great brass in particular. With an eerie children's chorus, epic remasters of returning portions of the song, and a good, meaty length clocking in around five minutes, this is what "Where Are We Going" was always meant to be.
• Kevin Sherwood remixes several of his themes from the Mob of the Dead soundtrack, such as the loading screen theme (heard when you return to Cell Block D), the roof theme (which gets an epic remaster), and the return of the creepy "Underworld" theme, which was also heard in the Mob portion of Revelations. Sherwood also gives a tragic, cathartic theme to the ending cutscene, which excellently accompanies the relief of the freed spirits like Al and the mobsters, and also fits the tragedy of Primis Richtofen's slow, horrible demise.
• Classified has "Shockwave", which manages to sound just like an Easter Egg song from Black Ops 1, a pump-up rock song.
• In a rare example that isn’t an Easter Egg song, the intro music for Classified absolutely has to be mentioned. Unlike the dark, cinematic, slow cutscenes of the more story-centered maps, Classified gets a fun fast-paced animation set to a swanky jazz theme that people have compared to the music of James Bond.
• Dead of the Night has "Mystery", a fast-paced song whose lyrics are befitting of its name.
• Ancient Evil gives us "Stormbound", an energizing hard rock piece that sees the return of Clark S. Nova after his last outing in Gorod Krovi.
• Alpha Omega once again has Clark at the helm with "I Am The Well", an intense hard rock track whose lyrics serve as a clever Foreshadowing to the next map and the ultimate fate of the Aether storyline.
• Tag der Toten concludes the Aether storyline with "A Light from the Shore", an instrumental piece much like "Undone" that features the talents of Teemu Mantysaari. It starts off slow and foreboding, then goes slow and melancholic towards the middle before intensifying into an amazing and energizing piece that gives you just enough motivation to come in clutch for your teammates. Careful listeners might even hear some familiar motifs, particularly "Damned", "Pareidolia", and "Not Ready to Die".

Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

• As is tradition, we're greeted with another arrangement of "Damned", this one, in particular, being "Echoes of the Damned". As the name would imply, this perfectly encapsulates the general dread, fear, and anxiety of a Zombie Apocalypse, while reminding you of the souls lost to the Dark Aether. Towards the end, you're greeted with those all-too-familiar notes and the signature piano. Welcome to Cold War Zombies.
• This season begins with "Alone" sung by Clark S. Nova, an energetic song containing many callbacks, particularly to "Stormbound", "The One", and "I Am The Well", among a few others.
• Firebase Z marks the debut of a new performer in Julie Nathanson, Samantha's voice actress, with "Lost", a much slower track once again sung from Sam's point of view, as not only did her time in the Dark Aether subject her to some Sanity Slippage, but it's also a Badass Boast as her powers are beginning to make a return too!
• Sadly, while Kevin Sherwood couldn't compose a new Easter egg song for Mauer der Toten, we do get a nice alternative - "Amoeba" by The Adolescents, which was also in Grand Theft Auto V and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

Fan songs

• Welcome Home by Iniquity Rap is a song made for the return of zombies in Black Ops II and is pretty cool. One of the highlights is the beginning of the song where we clearly feel the joy of the singer. Also doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.
  This is an ode. An ode to zombies... (laugh) They're back!
• They did another for Call of Duty: Black Ops III's zombies, Many Men. Also comes with it's own Heartwarming line.
  I'm glad you're back it's really nice my God!
  We waited way to long we're glad that you've returned/ And we'll look forward to our future encounters
• "Origins" by Borderline Disaster is the last song in a series of twelve made about the Zombies mode which contains Call Backs to every one of them, and is pretty awesome in its own right.
• Their successor, Rockit, picked up the torch for Black Ops 3. Among their songs are six songs for "Zetsubou No Shima", with various musicians, each of which is as good as the other and the first five of which having quite melancholic parts suited for the mood of the map.