2010 Archives - The Greatest Game Music

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Soundtrack

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Soundtrack, Mikael Karlsson, 2010

Battlefield: Bad Company’s soundtrack had turned heads through the involvement of classical composer Mikael Karlsson. As a successful writer of modern (sometimes avant-garde) classical music and with an impressive body of well-received orchestral works, ballets and operas under his belt, Karlsson seemed like an unusual choice to score a first-person shooter. The link between Karlsson and the Battlefield franchise was Stefan Strandberg, sound director at game developer DICE. Friends during their study years in Stockholm, they reconnected when Karlsson moved to New York and a demo tape of his made it into the hands of Strandberg.

Ultimately though, the Battlefield: Bad Company score album felt underwhelming. Its compositions were usually too short to develop meaningfully. Additionally, the music wasn’t as adventurous and refreshing as the references that Karlsson and Strandberg quoted in interviews (Rachmaninoff, Schnittke, Bartok) would suggest.

The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 soundtrack – while stylistically more conventional than its predecessor – is a considerable improvement. Ignoring some shorter tracks that feel like filler, the score album’s meat are four substantial orchestral cues. While they run for just over 15 minutes altogether, they are among Western game music’s best developed orchestral compositions. In fact, particularly “The Secret Revealed” and “The Ancient Weapon” feel more like small concert works than soundtrack compositions. Karlsson’s background in classical music is consistently manifest in his intelligent handling of orchestral forces and dynamics. It helps that according to Karlsson, “BC2 has a much more developed, cinematic story line than BC1”.

The fun kicks off with the robust “The Storm (Main Theme)”. Its opening gestures – a resilient, solemn trumpet solo over somewhat anonymously driving string ostinati and percussion – have become musical clichés of the FPS genre. But Karlsson establishes his credentials early on. His trumpet lead melody is more long-spun and less predictable than the vast majority of competitors in this field. Countless game (and movie) soundtracks have tried to mix traditional orchestral sweep with rhythm-focused modern action score writing – far too often to underwhelming results. “The Storm (Main Theme)” is one of the few game music compositions that gets the balance right. The piece never sacrifices carefully crafted dynamics and orchestrations for the constant forward surge that this type of composition requires. The track’s requisite sense of heroism never feels cheap and doesn’t have to rely on the tired, simplistic major chord progressions of other action games.

One of the surprising things about the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 soundtrack is that “The Storm (Main Theme)” is the only composition with the expected militaristic bravado. The other three substantial cues take more subtle approaches.

“Snowy Mountains” positions itself on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum to “The Storm (Main Theme)”. It’s a far more abstract, but still accessible composition, due to its immediately striking atmosphere. As the base for “Snowy Mountains”, Karlsson uses ear-catching layers of plodding, resonant string ostinati. The music’s motoric progression remains steady to suggest constant pressing forward to fulfill a mission in white, barren lands. At the same time, rhythmic subtleties and additions like busy string pizzicati keep the mood sufficiently unpredictable and tense. Massive French horn blasts underline “Snowy Mountains”’ stark atmosphere, which is alleviated through measured woodwind melodies.

If “The Storm (Main Theme)” is the barnstorming opening track and “Snowy Mountains” evokes a particular locale, the remaining two tracks deliver the bulk of the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 soundtrack’s cinematic drama – in remarkably mature and subdued fashion. Both “The Secret Revealed” and “The Ancient Weapon” surprise with their hushed, nocturnal atmosphere.

“The Secret Revealed” shifts gears after “The Storm (Main Theme)”’s swagger, opening with a rolling four-note piano motif on flute. The motif’s refusal to harmonically resolve sets the composition’s mysterious, agitated mood. A sense of foreboding flows from a high-pitched violin drone and ruminative deep string utterings. The melodic material is purposefully fragmented, but still developed smartly enough to tie the piece together. Composed with classical sensibilities and making judicious use of chamber music-sized orchestrations, all the tension that “The Secret Revealed” has carefully built up explodes in a towering brass variation of the four-note motif – suitably awe-inspiring to justify the track’s title.

“The Ancient Weapon” visits similar emotional territory, but with a more melodramatic flair. Karlsson writes a solo violin part that ranks among Western game music’s most fully-developed instrumental soli. By turns delicate, passionate, trembling, intimate, and always impeccably performed, the mesmerising solo violin is pitted against thumping percussion and hammering piano chords. Compositional subtlety once more leads to emotional ambivalence and intrigue. “The Ancient Weapon”’s solo violin part lacks any continuously flowing, comforting melody line. It refuses to deliver any definitive emotional payoffs, but offers constant allure and fascination. Karlsson’s background in modern classical music shines through once more, allowed to produce far more multi-faceted statements of intent than on Battlefield: Bad Company. Ultimately, “The Ancient Weapon” ends on the album’s most ambiguous, cliffhanging note, receding back into the darkness. It’s a welcome invitation to replay this anything but ordinary first-person shooter score.

01 - The Storm (Main Theme) Mikael Karlsson 4:30
02 - The Secret Revealed Mikael Karlsson 4:01
03 - Snowy Mountains Mikael Karlsson 3:03
04 - The Ancient Weapon Mikael Karlsson 3:50

Cthulhu Saves the World Soundtrack

Cthulhu Saves the World Soundtrack, Gordon McNeil, 2010

With the rise of indie games, the number of 8- and 16-bit styled titles has exploded. One of the most beloved genres from that era in gaming were JRPGs. It’s no surprise then that the retro game market has been flooded with titles that try to recapture the magic of genre classics like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Star Ocean, Tales of… the list goes on and on. One of the better JRPG throwbacks was Zeboyd Games’ Cthulhu Saves The World. For the game’s soundtrack, Zeboyd Games turned to Gordon McNeil.

McNeil had provided a couple of tracks to Zeboyd Games’ earlier Breath of Death VII: The Beginning. His contribution to Chtulhu would be significantly larger, clocking in at more than 70 minutes of music. McNeil’s stylistic approach to scoring this hybrid parody/homage was unsurprising. In his words: “Since I was a tod I’ve wanted to score an RPG of the J variety, so I jumped at the chance. The whole idea behind Zeboyd’s RPGs is to make as much an honest tribute as well as parody, and so I decided to go whole hog and put together as iconic a JRPG soundtrack as I could.”

Indeed, like the best parody scores, McNeil plays things entirely straight, never pushing the music to sound overtly jokey or self-aware. More importantly, McNeil manages to pen what indeed has every right to be called an iconic JRPG score. This might be Western game music’s best retro RPG score, the very rare example of a throwback soundtrack that is every bit as great as the classics that it references.

Listeners will know they’re in good hands from the moment opening track “Save the World (Hero Theme)” kicks in. Beautifully layered brass fanfares prepare the ground for a wonderfully enterprising, youthful French horn theme. With its refreshing swagger, the composition captures the requisite sense of adventure to perfection. Like most JRPGs, the Cthulhu Saves The World soundtrack liberally mixes classical and rock/pop influences. And “Save the World”’s lead melody certainly embodies the score’s mastery of both those genres. Beautifully developed and long-winded, the cue’s theme equally has the repetition and immediacy of a great pop tune.

While McNeil integrates rock elements into the orchestral ensemble consistently well, one aspect of this genre fusion deserves particular mention: the outstanding rock drum work. In fact, McNeil’s writing for the instrument is more creative than what you’d hear on most rock/metal game scores. Take “Conquer the Fire (Volcano)”’s fantastic variety of drum fills and rhythm changes. They help push the piece to one of the soundtrack’s most goosebump-inducing moments, when a magnificent, skyscraping string melody again combines classical gravitas with pop music’s catchiness.

As an exercise in pastiche, Cthulhu Saves The World necessarily follows genre tropes, but it always does so to perfection. Expect a peaceful town theme? That’s precisely what “A Moment of Clarity (Town)” delivers – no surprise here. However, with such gorgeous woodwind melodies atop acoustic guitar chords and warm string backing, there’s no reason to complain. And again, McNeil doesn’t fail to develop his composition, transitioning into a romantically swooning B section led by solo piano.

Other locations are scored as predictably and with just as much outstanding musicality. “Rust and Scrap (Factory)” is a junkyard stomp that mixes playfully industrial rhythms with clarinet leads and harpsichord riffs. “Into the Depths (Shrine)” opens with deep male choir, in its obviously synthetic nature a charming throwback to PS1-era soundtracks. One of the soundtrack’s most beautiful brass melodies – solemn yet aspiring – befittingly underscores this ecclesiastical location. And finally, mighty electric guitar riffs come rolling in to complete this picture of a mysterious, awe-inspiring place.

No classic RPG score would be complete without strong battle themes. Not surprisingly, the Cthulhu Saves The World soundtrack excels here as well. McNeil brings to bear his penchant for complex, dense instrumentations on these adrenaline-charged compositions. “Conflict (Battle)” is yet another track that seamlessly merges classical and rock (or rather metal) styles. Hugely energising, “Conflict” never lets up, but at the same time knows how to pace itself. Witness how its lighter piano lead is impeccably timed after strings, choir, guitar and drums have taken the track’s intensity to its peak.

And what of the big finale? A six minute miniature epic, “Existence Collapses” lets McNeil pull out all the stops – metal riffage, prominent choir and organ, show-stopping trumpet soli, fists-raised-to-the-sky orchestral drama. Of course, he combines it all perfectly to write a final boss track for the ages. “Existence Collapses” fully earns the hyperbole that its title promises and cements the status of the Cthulhu Saves The World soundtrack as a genre classic that even manages to surpass other outstanding JRPG throwback scores like Bravely Default.

01 - Save the World (Hero Theme) Gordon McNeil 2:02
02 - The Trial (First Dungeon) Gordon McNeil 2:56
03 - Conflict (Battle) Gordon McNeil 3:34
04 - Across the Crescent Moon, the Weeping Monster Sighs Once More (Victory Theme) Gordon McNeil 2:43
05 - Straying Into Darkness (Caves) Gordon McNeil 3:14
06 - A Moment of Clarity (Town) Gordon McNeil 3:17
07 - Into the Depths (Shrine) Gordon McNeil 2:29
08 - Limitless and Free Skies (World Map) Gordon McNeil 2:36
09 - The Mist Never Clears (Forest) Gordon McNeil 1:50
10 - Tighten Your Grip Gordon McNeil 4:27
11 - Push Through Once More (Boss) Gordon McNeil 4:20
12 - The Fling That Should Not Be (Umi's Theme) Gordon McNeil 3:39
13 - Surrounded (Dunwich) Gordon McNeil 2:00
14 - Eternal Terror Gordon McNeil 2:27
15 - Traversing the Endless Black (Spaceship) Gordon McNeil 3:28
16 - Rust and Scrap (Factory) Gordon McNeil 3:00
17 - Jazzhands (City) Gordon McNeil 2:22
18 - Conquer the Fire (Volcano) Gordon McNeil 4:11
19 - Descending Forever (Final Dungeon) Gordon McNeil 3:16
20 - Existance Collapses (Final Boss) Gordon McNeil 6:31
21 - Testimony of Memory (Old Dungeon) Gordon McNeil 2:45
22 - One Final Tight Spot (Old Battle) Gordon McNeil 4:13

Victoria II Soundtrack

Victoria II Soundtrack, Andreas Waldetoft, 2010

Throughout the years, Andreas Waldetoft has been consistently churning out pleasingly melodic scores for Paradox Interactive’s history-themed strategy games. Titles like Europa Universalis III and Europa Universalis Rome showed promise during their moments of unrestrained melodicism. Unfortunately, various issues held these scores back from entirely fulfilling their promise.

It is on the Victoria II soundtrack that Waldetoft finally reaches his artistic peak. His music has always been best when allowed to wallow in its lyricism and meandering prettiness. The secret ingredient are Waldetoft’s beguiling melodies, which often manage to cover over the general thinness of his material. What’s usually more problematic is Waldetoft’s action material. Less melodic in nature, it can’t fall back on mellifluous instrument lines and can sound repetitive, if still competent.

Victoria II plays exactly to these strengths and weaknesses. There’s not a battle cue in sight, and Waldetoft’s melodic gifts generate more exquisite results than ever before or since. Conciseness is not the music’s strength or intention, and there’s little point in analysing the depth of Victoria II‘s orchestrations or thematic constructs. This is simply music to be savoured in its velvety sonorities and melodic beauty, without too much intellectual probing.

There’s more to the musical success of Victoria II‘s soundtrack though than just gorgeous, emotive melodies. Filling an entire album with generally slow-paced orchestral pieces that almost constantly favour silky string sounds over counterpoint or other musical complexities could have resulted in tedium, but Waldetoft makes two very smart decisions. Firstly, he styles Victoria II as a violin concerto. Fair enough, make that a violin rhapsody, in the absence of any pronounced thematic material.

On a conceptual level, making a solo violin the main protagonist of Victoria II is quite ingenious. Keep in mind that the 19th century saw the violin concerto peak in its popularity among composers and audiences. With the solo violin placed up front and centre on his score, Waldetoft manages to smoothly reference the period Victoria II is set in, and at the same time sets his work apart from so many other orchestral game soundtracks inspired by romantic classical music. It’s a surprisingly unobtrusive way to imbue Victoria II‘s compositions with a patina and grandeur that never feels overwrought.

Waldetoft’s second overarching musical directive shapes the soundtrack even more and further sets it apart from its strategy genre brethren. It’s astonishing to think that while history-themed strategy games often deal with gargantuan subject matter – the rise and fall of empires – their scores rarely shape such material ripe with dramatic possibilities into a coherent narrative arc. Thankfully, Waldetoft doesn’t make the same mistake. He has no qualms about milking Victoria II‘s historic setting for all the drama that it’s worth.

Proceedings begin with all the pomp and circumstance that you would rightfully expect. First comes a trio of pieces that set the score’s imperial mood. Among these cues, “Buckingham Palace” fares best as one of the Victoria II soundtrack’s best developed compositions. The track opens with an idyllic violin-led passage, but then bursts into a spurt of activity with an upbeat march. All this ceremonial splendour is capped off with an infectious, proud melody adorned by colourful woodwind flutters.

After this weighty opening has established the music’s aristocratic nature and scope, Victoria II lightens up a bit. Waldetoft’s music delves into a number of atmospherically more varied pieces that avert an overload of magisterial splendour. At the same time, these compositions are substantial enough to not let the album sag in its middle-section. “Johann’s Waltz” gives the solo violin a chance to display a different side to its character than solemnity and moving pathos.

And then, with the musical image of an empire at the height of its glory painted in thankfully less than overbearing tones, Waldetoft shifts the mood to one of grief and well-mannered tragedy. Now the Victoria II soundtrack ramps up its theatricality with a handful of slightly morbid compositions. The elegiac gloom of “Death of Prince Albert” and “Countryside” voices previously unheard, anguished concerns. The mood turns darker and graver yet on “Russia 1917”. By now, Waldetoft has established his plan to modify Victoria II‘s grand sound from triumphant to melancholic and forlorn. This obviously mirrors the dominance and fall of Europe’s empires, whose might crumbled in the chaos of the early 20th century. This cataclysmic trajectory gives the Victoria II soundtrack the dramatic album arc that so many other strategy game scores lack.

Harnessing its weighty historic subject matter then allows Waldetoft to raise the music’s emotional expression to operatic heights on closing tracks “Winter” and “Lament for the Queen – Finale”. Given the Victoria II soundtrack’s classical inspirations, it’s no surprise that “Lament for the Queen – Finale” aims to present itself as a veritable miniature requiem mass, with a solo soprano and tenor added to the ensemble. Issues with the recording and mix of the vocal soloists hamper what is meant to be the score’s emotional climax. Still, the composition generates enough gravitas to credibly complete the journey from optimistic bombast to the mournful farewelling of an era.

01 - The Coronation Andreas Waldetoft 3:34
02 - Buckingham Palace Andreas Waldetoft 4:17
03 - Europe Anno 1850 Andreas Waldetoft 6:45
04 - Johann's Waltz Andreas Waldetoft 4:46
05 - New World Anthem Andreas Waldetoft 3:08
06 - Poverty Andreas Waldetoft 3:44
07 - Death of Prince Albert Andreas Waldetoft 4:52
08 - Countryside Andreas Waldetoft 2:08
09 - Russia 1917 Andreas Waldetoft 4:47
10 - Winter Andreas Waldetoft 7:26
11 - Lament for the Queen: Finale Andreas Waldetoft 7:28