Each iteration of damned in the main games has some form of a deeper meaning to the overall tone of where zombies is going.
- Black Ops set the stage w/ Damned bringing the eerie atmosphere zombies had during the Zielinski era.
- Black Ops II brought a more active & shaken up tone w/ the song being a remixed version representing the broken & nonstop action of the earth after the nukes hit.
- Black Ops III was more orchestral w/ the vocals being introduced to the song which fit the more "grand" feel Blundell was bringing to zombies.
- Black Ops 4 brought a "finality" feel to damned w/ the violin playing a much more prominent role in addition to a lower to much more subtle vocals.
- Black Ops Cold War's slower pace in the beginning brought a more mysterious but "rising" tone as a way of zombies a new era of zombies is commencing.
- Vanguard was a lot more of an "sinister awakening" feel as well to provide a tone to the rise of Kortifex & the opening of the lore in the Dark Aether.
- MWZ fits the tone of zombies being in the modern setting. It continues what VG was setting up imo w/ it starts off feeling hopeless showing the dark aether is creeping back in more & more, but the second half gets more active to show's more action giving this feel that the hordes of zombies keep coming.
Bringing us to Black Ops 6 zombies & Damned 7 link to song.
- The biggest different w/ Black Ops 6 is the use of a church bell to open the songwhich normally is used during a funeral to commemorate someone's death.
- One of the biggest plot points we know for the dark aether is the death of Requiem as seen in MWZ.
- The song begins slowly with a more eerie tone w/ the church bells ringing.
- In the background during the slow beginning of the song, as the notes being to rise you can also hear voices, potentialy showing the mental anguish the crew is going through in Terminus.
- By the second half on the song when the beat drops, it fully brings a much more active classic damned theme w/ added percussion, vocals & the church bell.
- It's a lot more active for while until the mood slows down again once a church bell has been rung. Damned plays a little longer by itself, no added vocals, percussion or anything, just classic damned.
- The final note of the song will be the use of a church bell but at a much lower tone.
The overall tone of Damned 7 is heavily reminiscent to the tone of both Vanguard & Damned 4, something sinister is coming, but also something is coming to an end.
I strongly believe BO6's story for zombies will bring a lot more to the overall world of the Dark Aether. Assuming that BO6 is truly free from the shackles of the Warzone storyline the same wa campaign is, I really do think all the set up from Vanguard's Elder Gods, the dark aether entities & the construct in addition to the story of Ava (in Liberty Falls during this time) being sent to the Dark Aether in the end of MWZ.
I 100% looked too deep into this, but I strongly think each version of damned since at least BO3 has given a deeper meaning to the overall tone of each zombies iteration. Thoughts?