"The Rumbling" is a single recorded by Japanese alternative metal band SiM, released from the EP ''Beware'' through

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

label. The television edit version of the song was released on January 10, 2022, while the full version was released on February 7, 2022. The song was featured as the opening theme song for the anime '' Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2''. It peaked at 1 on the US

Hot Hard Rock Songs The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

chart, 5 on the US

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart, 13 on the US

Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...

chart, and No. 23 on the

UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The ...

Background and release

The song was the first single released after the band's label transfer to

and was used as the opening theme song for the anime '' Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2''. The release date of "The Rumbling" was not announced in advance, but the television edit version released unannounced on January 9, 2022, the day the first episode of the anime aired. The full version of the song was later announced to be released digitally on February 7, 2022. The physical version was released on May 25, 2022 in

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

, limited to 5,000 copies worldwide.

Composition and lyrics

"The Rumbling" was written entirely in English, in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

C minor C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major. The C natural minor scale is: : Cha ...

and is set in

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

with a tempo of 145 BPM. It was composed by the band and the lyrics were written by vocalist MAH for the anime '' Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2''. The song has been described as a

metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

song with heavy strings elements. According to vocalist MAH, the song was made from May to June 2021 on

offer after their transfer to the label. MAH and guitarist SHOW-HATE made 4 songs together since they knew ''Attack on Titan'' very well, then one of the songs entitled "The Rumbling" was chosen for the anime. Unlike their previous works, they decided to put strings and

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

to the song to keep the feeling of the previous theme songs of the anime while still retaining the band's musical style with

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

part in the middle. They made the whole song to be up tempo then changed the rhythm to be slower.

Music video

The music video for "The Rumbling" was released on March 2, 2022, after being teased with two short trailers three weeks before. Directed by Taiyo Yamamoto, it features the band performing the song in ''Attack on Titan'' setting. As of August 2022, "The Rumbling" has over 25 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. The band also released the official instrumental playthrough videos for drums, bass, and guitar on their YouTube channel.

Commercial performance

The song became SiM's most commercially successful song, debuted at No. 3 on the US

chart, No. 15 on the US

Hard Rock Digital Song Sales The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart, No. 30 on the US

chart, and No. 23 on the UK Rock & Metal Singles chart in its first week. It hit No. 1 on the US Hot Hard Rock Songs chart the following week and No. 13 on the US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart on the chart dated February 19. The song also entered the US Hard Rock Streaming Songs chart at No. 18 on January 27, 2022 with over 2.1 million US streams. After the release of the full song, "The Rumbling" re-entered the US Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart, jumped to No. 2. It also debuted at No. 5 on the US

, and No. 92 on the ''Billboard'' Global 200 chart. In the band's home country of Japan, it charted at No. 67 on the

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

and No. 5 on the Oricon Digital Singles chart, selling 8,065 downloads in its first week.

Track listing

Personnel

SiM * Manabu "MAH" Taniguchi – vocals, lyrics * Shouhei "SHOW-HATE" Iida – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals * Shinya "SiN" Shinohara – bass guitar, backing vocals * Yuya "GODRi" Taniguchi – drums, backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

"The Rumbling" special website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumbling 2022 songs Anime songs Attack on Titan Metalcore songs Pony Canyon singles