On Dec. 9, just two days after The Game Awards 2023, the album Rebirth—Greatest Hits by fictional band Old Gods of Asgard from Alan Wake 2 managed to break into the iTunes global top 10, right behind the likes of Coldplay.
For context, Old Gods of Asgard is actually a Finnish band called Poets of the Fall, which has worked with developer Remedy before and written songs for some of its games. For Alan Wake 2, the band appears in the game itself under the name Old Gods of Asgard and is responsible for the now iconic “Herald of Darkness” music video.
Their Rebirth album, which includes music from the first Alan Wake game and Control, launched on iTunes on Dec. 8 and, as shared on Reddit, reached tenth place in the global album charts, much to the delight of fans. No doubt the band’s live performance during The Game Awards, which was easily one of the highlights of the whole event, played a part since it would’ve introduced the band to people who didn’t play Alan Wake 2.
At the time of writing, the album has unfortunately dropped dramatically out of the top 10 and now sits in 43rd place, according to music data website Kworb. Still, the fact it even reached the top 10 is nothing to sneeze at and some think this is a sign that Poets of the Fall should lean in more to the Old Gods of Asgard persona for further success.
“I would love for them to do an actual tour as Old Gods of Asgard… Or perhaps as a Poets of the Falls support act/co-headliner type of thing,” suggests Reddit user rovgo. Another fan, Kindly_Formal_2604, wants to see the band tour alongside other metal bands like Judas Priest or Dethklok, the latter appropriately being another fictional band that originated in Adult Swim animated series Metalocalypse.
The exposure from The Game Awards could prompt Poets of the Fall to do more with the Old Gods of Asgard name outside of Remedy’s games, such as a live tour. At the very least, the band will likely remain a continued presence in whatever else Remedy cooks up. Control 2, for example, is bound to feature at least one song from the band whenever it comes out.
