ANTHRAX, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Featured On 'Catch The Throne: The Mixtape Volume II': More Details Revealed

HBO has teamed up with some of the music industry's top artists for the second installment of "Catch The Throne: The Mixtape", for the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series "Game Of Thrones". Building on the success of Volume I — with over 2.5 million streams to date — that attracted hip-hop and reggaeton fans alike, "Volume II" will feature Method Man, Snoop Dogg and Yandel and will transcend genres by adding Grammy-nominated metal bands ANTHRAX and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE to the mixtape lineup. The mixtape will be released in anticipation of the season 5 debut of "Game Of Thrones", airing April 12 on HBO.

Produced by Launch Point Records, the 15-song mixtape features diverse artists representing "Game Of Thrones" families, leveraging themes and highlights from season 4. Showcasing the importance of music in "Game Of Thrones", each song on the mixtape samples music from the show's season 4 soundtrack. This year's mixtape also weaves in the overarching theme of fire and ice, providing listeners with an exciting lineup of heavy metal and hip-hop artists.

As huge fans of the series, artists were eager to participate. Off the top, I love 'Game Of Thrones' — I even gave my expert analysis of this season on my GGN show. It's like the rap game, it's gangster, about family, loyalty and trying to get to the top," stated Snoop Dogg. "I had to get involved. Give the fans a little bit of how I see it."

Lucinda Martinez, SVP of multicultural marketing at HBO, stated: "'Catch The Throne: The Mixtape' garnered much praise and piqued interest of artists wanting to partake in its sequel. We're excited to seize the opportunity to channel the fandom of these artists into 'Volume II' and give audiences another opportunity to experience original music inspired by the show. We are particularly excited to integrate heavy metal into the mixtape this time around to continue our celebration of this groundbreaking series."

Scott Ian, founding member of ANTHRAX, told Finland's Kaaos TV: "[Our contribution to the mixtape] was a song we had already written [for our next studio album]. We didn't have time to start writing something brand new from scratch. We listened to all the material we had and made the decision. That one just… We all thought the same thing. Everybody listened to the demos and we all had the same idea that this one demo just sounded like that should be the song for 'Game Of Thrones', so it was a pretty easy decision. The lyrics weren't written yet, though — we only had the music — so then [the show producers] said you have to pick something about the show to write about. And I got to write about exactly what I wanted to write about [the Lannister family], so I was very happy about that. It was a really fun thing for me to do, because I'm such a massive fan of the show. So are Charlie [Benante, drums] and Frankie [Bello, bass] — they're really big fans. So it was just something really exciting that we got the call to do that. And we were, like, 'Yeah!' A lot of times you get calls for things, and it's kind of, like, 'Naaahhh. Just say no.' But this we were very excited about."

Speaking to Dave "Higgo" Higgins of Australia's long-running rock station Triple M, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE singer Jesse Leach stated about his involvement in "Catch The Throne: The Mixtape Volume II": "It's crazy, man. I've always heard of the TV show, but I don't watch a lot of TV. I tend to be a documentary nerd. And I have a steady diet of 'The Simpsons' and 'Family Guy'; that's pretty much my speed. I wanna laugh and forget stuff, and then I wanna learn stuff; that's kind of my thing."

He continued: "When we got asked to do it, I started doing my research and watching some of the stuff. And while I was writing the song, I didn't really know what I was talking about. But [the show producers] give you a concept, they give you key words that you should use and sort of give you a storyline. And it was fun for me to work in that capacity, 'cause I'm used to just coming up with stuff on my own off the spot. And they had a lot of cool trigger words, so it was interesting to see that come together. And then start to watch the show, and then have it turn into… like, once we were done with the song, and it was all said and done, I watched the entire four seasons in, like, a week. [Laughs] I became completely addicted and enthralled in it."

Leach added: "So we are all really stoked on it, and I think it's one of our better songs. And that should be seeing the light of day through the show, I think, in April. And then we're gonna start playing it out live, I think, 'cause we're all pretty stoked on it."

"Catch The Throne: The Mixtape Volume II" will be released next month free of charge. Listeners are encouraged to share using the hashtag #CatchTheThrone.

Viewers can access previous seasons of "Game Of Thrones" on HBO GO, HBO On Demand or by checking local listings for replays.