King Ultramega, the collaborative rock-and-metal collective honoring the works of late Soundgarden founder Chris Cornell, have returned with a new cover that finds Mastodon’s Brann Dailor at the mic.
This time around, King Ultramega are tackling a late-era Cornell solo track, a ballad dubbed “Dead Wishes” that first came out on the rocker’s Higher Truth album from 2015, his last to be released before his passing in 2017.
Dailor hits emotive, high-range cries across the piece while supported by guitarist Angel Vivaldi, veteran session drummer Kenny Aronoff, keyboardist Frank Mitaritonna and King Ultramega founder and project lead Mark Menghi, who produced the song, acted as string conductor and added bass.
“As I was thinking on who could potentially sing this song, I heard a version of Mastodon covering ‘Stairway to Heaven’ where Brann is singing lead vox and I just thought to myself, ‘Well, he would be interesting on Dead Wishes,’” Menghi said in a statement.
“I have to say what an incredible honor to even be asked to try and attempt a cover of one of Chris’ songs,” Dailor adds in a statement. “The fact that Mark thought I could even come close to it is beyond flattering, and to be honest, my knee jerk reaction was to say ‘Uh, no thank you, I’m not interested in embarrassing myself if I can help it.’”
He adds: “‘Dead Wishes’ was totally out of my wheelhouse so I thought it would be a great challenge and an opportunity to try to honor one of my favorite musicians and vocalists for a great cause.”
King Ultramega’s “Dead Wishes” is out now via Reigning Phoenix Music. Proceeds for the single will go to MusiCares, an arts industry nonprofit that “provides mental health services, addiction recovery support, and emergency assistance to members of the music community.”
This is not the first time King Ultramega have connected with a Mastodon member. Back in 2025, guitarist Bill Kelliher hit a version of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage” alongside Anthrax’s Charlie Benante and Alice in Chains’ William DuVall.