You know that feeling when a song just crawls under your skin? It’s not necessarily catchy in a "pop-radio" kind of way, but it feels old. Ancient, even. That is exactly what happened when Sam Lee and Daniel Pemberton dropped The Devil and the Huntsman for Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. It was 2017. The movie itself had a... let's say mixed reception at the box office, but the soundtrack? That thing was a beast of its own.
People are still obsessed with it.
Why? Honestly, it’s because the track feels like a dirt-covered relic dug up from a medieval trench. It’s gritty. It’s heavy. Most importantly, it taps into a very specific kind of folk horror energy that most modern composers are too scared to touch.
The Raw Grit of Sam Lee’s Performance
Let’s talk about Sam Lee for a second. If you aren't familiar with him, he’s not your average studio singer. He’s a folk historian. He literally spends his time tracking down old "traveler" communities in the UK and Ireland to record songs that are dying out. He’s a song collector. When Pemberton brought him in for The Devil and the Huntsman, he didn't want a polished, Auto-Tuned vocal. He wanted the breathing. He wanted the gravel.
You can hear it in the track. The way Lee inhales—it’s loud. It’s intentional. It makes you feel like the singer is standing three inches from your ear in a cold, damp cave. This isn't "background music." It’s an oral tradition brought to life with a massive, cinematic budget.
The lyrics themselves play on classic tropes of the hunt and the bargain. In folk music, the "Devil" isn't always the red guy with a pitchfork from Sunday school. He’s often a figure of the woods. The huntsman, meanwhile, is the one who thinks he’s in control until the shadows start moving. It’s a primal story.
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Why the Production Sounds Like a Heartbeat
Daniel Pemberton is a bit of a mad scientist. For this specific score, he didn't just sit at a piano. He wanted sounds that felt "uncomfortably visceral."
There’s this thumping rhythm in The Devil and the Huntsman that feels less like a drum and more like a panicked pulse. Rumor has it—and Pemberton has discussed this in various interviews about the King Arthur sessions—that they used a lot of "found sounds" and non-traditional percussion. They were slapping things, breathing into mics, and layering sounds to create a wall of noise that feels claustrophobic.
It’s the opposite of the "epic" orchestral sound we got from movies like Lord of the Rings. Where Howard Shore went for majesty, Pemberton went for the mud.
The Folklore Connection
If you dig into the history of British folk music, the "huntsman" is a recurring character. You’ve got the Wild Hunt—the mythological group of ghostly hunters galloping across the sky. Seeing them was usually a bad omen. Death, war, or at the very least, a really bad harvest.
By naming the song The Devil and the Huntsman, the creators immediately plugged into centuries of European superstition. It’s why the song feels familiar even if you’ve never heard it before. It’s DNA-level storytelling.
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The Lyrics: A Breakdown of the Bargain
“I’ll give you gold, I’ll give you silver...”
We’ve heard that line in a thousand folk songs. It’s the classic temptation. But in this version, the delivery is so jagged that you know the gold is probably cursed. The song doesn't have a traditional verse-chorus-verse structure that lingers on a hook. It builds. It’s a crescendo of anxiety.
Interestingly, the song has found a massive second life on social media and streaming. It’s a staple for "dark academia" playlists and "Viking" workout sets. People use it to signal a certain kind of "weighted" atmosphere. It’s the ultimate "walking into a fight you might not win" music.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Song
A lot of listeners assume this is a traditional song passed down through the centuries. Kinda. While it draws heavily on the vibe and lyrical fragments of traditional British folk, it is an original composition.
That’s actually the most impressive part.
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Usually, when modern composers try to write "old" music, it sounds like a Renaissance Fair. It’s cheesy. It’s got too much flute. The Devil and the Huntsman avoids this by leaning into the ugliness of the sound. It’s not pretty. It’s effective. It proves that you don't need a 100-piece orchestra to sound massive; sometimes you just need one guy breathing heavily and a very loud floorboard to stomp on.
The Impact on the Genre
Since 2017, we’ve seen a huge spike in this "Neo-Folk" or "Dark Folk" style in media. Think of the music in The Witcher or The Northman. They all owe a little bit of a debt to what Pemberton and Lee did here. They proved there was a commercial appetite for music that sounds like it was recorded in a shed 500 years ago.
How to Experience This Sound Further
If you’ve had The Devil and the Huntsman on repeat and need more, you shouldn't just look for movie soundtracks. You need to go to the source.
- Check out Sam Lee’s solo albums. Ground of its Own and Old Wow are incredible. They are much more melodic than the King Arthur track, but they carry that same "ancient" weight.
- Look into the "Broadside Ballads." These were the cheap, printed songs sold on street corners in the 16th-19th centuries. They are the direct ancestors of this kind of storytelling.
- Listen to the rest of the King Arthur: Legend of the Sword OST. Specifically the tracks "Growing Up Londinium" and "Run Londinium." They use the same "panting" and rhythmic breathing techniques that make the Huntsman track so jarring.
Practical Steps for Folk Enthusiasts
If you are a creator or a musician looking to capture this specific energy, stop trying to make it sound "clean." The magic of The Devil and the Huntsman is in the imperfections.
- Embrace the Room: Record in a space with natural echo. Don't try to dampen the sound of your chair creaking or your breath.
- Focus on the Low End: The power of this song comes from the sub-bass frequencies and the heavy thuds.
- Vary the Vocals: Notice how Sam Lee shifts from a whisper to a growl. It’s about the emotional narrative, not hitting the "perfect" note.
The legacy of this track isn't just that it’s a "cool song from a movie." It’s a reminder that we are still deeply connected to the "uncanny" side of our history. We still like stories about the woods. We still like songs about the devil. And as long as artists like Lee and Pemberton are willing to get their hands dirty, folk music will keep evolving into something even darker and more interesting.
Watch the official music video or the "behind the scenes" recording sessions if you can find them. Seeing the physical effort Lee puts into the vocal delivery changes how you hear the song. It’s a physical feat as much as a musical one.
Next Steps for Deep Listening:
Start by exploring the "Traveler" singing tradition that Sam Lee champions. Search for archival recordings of songs like "The Deserter" or "Wild Mountain Thyme" to see where the DNA of the Huntsman actually comes from. Then, compare the King Arthur version of The Devil and the Huntsman to the more acoustic, "unplugged" live performances Sam Lee has done on various radio sessions—you'll see how much of the "menace" comes from the production versus the raw song itself.