The original motion picture soundtrack for the critically acclaimed and Academy Award-winning film Sound of Metal was released on all digital service providers via Nonesuch Records on April 23, 2021. Winner of two Academy Awards—for Sound and Editing—Sound of Metal’s soundtrack, which features a score by Abraham Marder and Nicolas Becker, highlights the film’s extraordinary sonic design and includes music written specifically for the project as well as pre-existing works such as “Rejoice, Beelzebub!” by Thomas de Hartmann and George Ivanovich Gurdjieff; “Cet amour me tue” by Arthur H, performed by Arthur H and Martha Wainwright as well as by the film’s actors Olivia Cooke and Mathieu Amalric; and two songs by Margaret Chardiet. The world-renowned percussionist Evelyn Glennie is featured on three of the album’s pieces; other performers include Marder, Becker, and the film’s lead actor Riz Ahmed. A video for the film’s previously released closing theme “Green,” written and performed by Abraham Marder, may be seen here:

Sound of Metal, directed by Darius Marder and co-written by Darius and Abraham Marder, tells the story of Ruben, played by Ahmed, an iterant punk-metal drummer who begins to unravel when he suddenly loses his hearing and identity. The film premiered in US theaters November 20, 2020 and on Amazon Prime Video on December 4 to tremendous praise, with the Los Angeles Times calling it “bruising, deeply moving,” adding, “the movie’s intricate sound design … is both an ingenious technical display and a compassionate feat of identification, a means of entering Ruben’s headspace as he slowly comes to grips with the unthinkable.”

Abraham Marder says, “As the film is an (unspoken) three-act structure of sound, it has long been my desire to create an album that could act as a both visceral and bittersweet reimagining of Ruben’s sonic journey. Blurring the lines between sound design and music, I worked with the Oscar-winning sound team and sound designer/composer Nicolas Becker as well as legendary deaf percussionist, Evelyn Glennie. The newly composed score was designed to be felt in your body as much as heard with your ears. The collection also features new eclectic recordings from the film such as Arthur H’s duet ‘Cet amour me tue’ featuring Martha Wainwright and produced by Thomas Bartlett.”

Sound of Metal has been named one of the top ten films of 2020 by the American Film Institute and, in addition to its two Oscars, has garnered the following honors: Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film for Darius Marder; Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead, Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actor, and Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama for Riz Ahmed; National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor and Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for Paul Raci; Critics' Choice Movie and BAFTA Awards for Best Editing; Satellite Award for Best Sound (Editing and Mixing); and BAFTA Award for Best Sound.

About Sound of Metal

During a series of adrenaline-fueled one-night gigs, itinerant punk-metal drummer Ruben (Riz Ahmed) begins to experience intermittent hearing loss. When a specialist tells him his condition will rapidly worsen, he thinks his music career—and with it his life—is over. His bandmate and girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke) checks the recovering heroin addict into a secluded sober house for the deaf in hopes it will prevent a relapse and help him learn to adapt to his new situation. But after being welcomed into a community that accepts him just as he is, Ruben has to choose between his equilibrium and the drive to reclaim the life he once knew. Utilizing startling, innovative sound design techniques, director Darius Marder takes audiences inside Ruben’s experience to vividly recreate his journey into a rarely examined world.