"Roar" was written and recorded by Vanek Inc., a production company owned by Nina and Shaun Vanek (Midnight guitarist Commander Vanik). While this duo primarily focuses their talents on creating tunes for movie trailers and underscores for TV and film, they have also released a number of stand-alone albums and singles such as Vanik's Sounds Of Samhain, and Nina Vee. Nina and Shaun Vanek have a knack for infusing elements of horror into everything they create.

The idea for "Roar" was brought to the couple by their three-year-old son, Nikko, who—like many kids his age—loves dinosaurs. When Nikko's not occupied with dinosaur toys and name recitations, he can be found singing along to songs about dinosaurs. So, when all the tried-and-true dino-jams grew old, Nikko got a chance to try his hand at the family business and make a Jurassic-style musical debut.

When Nikko's third birthday rolled around, his parents surprised him with a recording session in their home studio. The three-year-old was beyond excited for a chance to mimic the thrash metal stars that formed the soundtrack to his childhood. Taking ten dinosaur toys into the vocal booth, Nikko gave a passionate performance. In the meantime, Shaun edited the boy's takes and started writing music to go with his vocals. At the end of the day, the track's instrumental reflected the genre and energy of Obituary and Morbid Angel.

Two months after Nikko's recording session—around Christmas time—Nina had the idea to shoot a music video to accompany her son's song. According to Nina, "Nikko would run around the house stomping and roaring. It was so cute and ridiculous that we decided to record him." Nikko warmed the hearts of his parents, who hope that their son's passionate performance will uplift the spirits of those depressed by the events of present times.

When it came time to shoot, the family was torn by different ideas for the video, but Nina knew she wanted to film a live performance at their recording studio in Avon. Her hope was to get spotlight footage of Nikko singing into a microphone and to make him the focal point of the video. After going back and forth with different ideas, Shaun thought to make the music video a family affair. He decided that Nina should play bass and Nina realized their five-year-old, Jonalee, could fill in on the drums—just like that, they had a band! 

A day after their video was conceptualized—on a bright and early Sunday morning in Cleveland—the entire family packed it up and headed to the recording studio. Armed with dinosaur masks, makeup, costumes, and a plethora of other dino-gear, the family was ready to shoot the video for "Roar". The kids channeled their creativity for the shoot. Jonalee made up the names "Fossiltooth" and "T-Wrecks" for her and her little brother while Nikko showed off various dinosaur impersonations.

On the tech side of things, the in-studio filming was done by Ian Savage, while Shaun captured offshoots of Nikko running through the woods in a triceratops costume. Savage's son, Campbell, even got a chance to play a recording engineer at the beginning of the video. The end result was a work of art that is sure to capture the hearts of metalheads and dinosaur-lovers alike. 

"Roar" will be available on all digital platforms on February 16, 2021.