The theme song David Bowie was writing for Sky Atlantic’s new crime drama series The Last Panthers has been revealed for the first time today.

The atmospheric song, ‘Blackstar’ was unveiled in a minute long snippet over the opening credits of The Last Panthers. The clip features Bowie chanting in priest-like fashion over an swirling choir chorus while quasi-religious symbolism and gangland imagery plays in the background. All the while Bowie preaches “On the day of execution / Only women kneel and smile”, before a beat kicks in and takes the credits to their close. You can watch the clip below:

The show follows jewel thieves operating in Europe, referred to by Interpol as the Pink Panthers, and if the opening credits and music are anything to go by then the show promises to be a particularly dark and brooding take on the real life Pink Panthers. On Bowie’s Facebook page the show’s director discussed how Bowie drew influence from the show’s themes to craft the new track:

“I showed Mr. Bowie the two first episodes in the rough state they were at the time, and he liked what he saw very much. We discussed the various aspects of the show; naturally the plot line, but also the underlying currents of guilt and personality flaws. We talked about the dark heart of Europe. We talked about the biblical aspects of human nature. He asked if there was anything else to see, so I showed him the first concept board I had just made for the title sequence – images from the show laced with chimaeras and demons from the worlds of Bosch and Grunewald. That’s when he said go – it all fits. Then he played me his new song ‘Blackstar’.”

This marks the first time Bowie has worked on a TV theme since he wrote the music for the BBC’s adaptation of Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia, 20 years ago. Though just recently it was reported that Bowie was working on music for the new Spongebob musical.