Demonsouled – the (highly) unofficial soundtrack
I listen to a lot of music as I write, and as I do, various songs tend to get associated with specific characters. Here, then, are the songs from my collection that I associate with the characters and events of DEMONSOULED.
Specifically, the songs from the first three books, since I wrote them over the last ten years, and I’ve listened to a lot of music in that time. And some of this music, consequently, is fairly old, or from computer games I happened to be playing at the time.
Bear in mind there are spoilers for all three books below.
This would be Mazael Cravenlock’s theme, “Bonus 03” from Jeremy Soule’s Icewind Dale soundtrack. I think it captures Mazael’s preferred solution to problems (kinetic action) perfectly well:
This next track is “Sylvan Battle” from Heroes of Might and Magic V, which I think of as Romaria Greenshield’s theme:
This song is “Illusions”, from Thomas Bergersen’s “Illusions” album, which I think of as Lucan Mandragon’s theme. The term “illusions” rather neatly describes many of the decisions Lucan makes in SOUL OF SERPENTS (and the results of those decisions that play out in SOUL OF DRAGONS):
This is “Haven Siege”, again from Heroes of Might and Magic V, which brings Gerald Roland to mind:
Next is “Bastila’s Theme”, from Jeremy Soule’s “Knights of the Old Republic” soundtrack, which I think of as Rachel Cravenlock’s (later Rachel Roland’s theme). Especially in SOUL OF SERPENTS:
(“Knights of the Old Republic”, incidentally, was in my opinion one of the greatest RPGs of all time.)
This is the “Necropolis Theme” from Heroes V, which would serve admirably as Malavost’s theme:
The “Dungeon Theme” from Heroes V brings the San-keth, the villainous serpent people, to mind:
The “Bhaalspawn Battle” song from “Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal” would serve admirably as the soundtrack for the final battle between Mazael and Amalric Galbraith:
“Bonus 09”, again from Jeremy Soule’s Icewind Dale soundtrack, would be the theme for Mazael’s final fight against Morebeth Galbraith:
Now on to SOUL OF SERPENTS. The “Arishok” track from “Dragon Age 2”, by Inon Zur, would represent the Battle of Castle Cravenlock, when the assembled host of the Grim Marches faced off against twenty thousand of Ultorin’s Malrags:
“Battle at Aslan’s Howe”, from the “Prince Caspian” soundtrack, would make excellent music for Ultorin’s assault on the walls of Deepforest Keep:
This next song is “Tristan”, from the “Invincible” album by Two Steps From Hell. “Tristan” is an amazing song, and I think it would best represent the scene in SOUL OF SERPENTS when Romaria awakens the Great Traig from its centuries-long slumber, leading the traigs and the surviving defenders of Deepforest Keep in one last charge against Ultorin’s horde of Malrags:
“Revan Fights Malak”, from the “Knights of the Old Republic” soundtrack, would be the theme for Mazael’s final fight against Ultorin:
Finally, when Mazael and his companions fight Malavost before the Door of Souls, I think climatic song from the “Dragon Age: Origins” soundtrack, “To Challenge An Archdemon”, would be appropriate:
Once SOUL OF DRAGONS comes out, I’ll have to add some songs.
-JM
Again, another very nice ‘soundtrack’!
It’s funny how I have virtually every game you have posted the soundtrack of. I too agree with you, KOTOR was one of the best RPGs out there, that and its sequel, plus the new mmo rank as one of my favorite game series. BTW you should check out the soundtrack to the new Old Republic game, it’s very good, and it incorporates ALOT of John William’s Star Wars themes from the films.
As for some of the composers, Jeremy Soule, and Inon Zur are some of the best video game composers out there. Inon’s Dragon Age scores were great, as was his score to Rift and others. His latest was for the new Lord of the Rings game, War in the North. It was pretty good, but it was mostly battle music (the game is a hack n slash after all), and while it was good, I wish there were more sweeping themes in score, and not just backround music for action scenes. As for Jeremy Soule, he has only got better the more he has done. Skyrim is his finest score yet IMHO (he has always done a great job with the Elder Scrolls series). Funny thing is, I was never a big fan of his KOTOR scores, not that they were bad, but they felt odd to me, and I never quite felt they worked with the Star Wars universe.
Glad you had a Narnia track in there, Harry Gregson-Williams did a superb job with those films. Many people love those scores. Which is why the latest Narnia score is so tragic, it fails to have even one good track on it. David Arnold totally botched the job, and it detracted from the movie IMHO. I do so hope they get Gregson-Williams back for the fourth film (Magician’s Nephew), or someone of his calibur.
Last but not least, Illusions sounded great, Tristan even better. I really, really do have to start listening to Two steps from Hell, from what you have showed me so far, excellent!
“BTW you should check out the soundtrack to the new Old Republic game, it’s very good, and it incorporates ALOT of John William’s Star Wars themes from the films.”
I found about half of the The Old Republic soundtrack available for free (legally) here:
http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20111201
“As for some of the composers, Jeremy Soule, and Inon Zur are some of the best video game composers out there.”
Unquestionably!
“As for Jeremy Soule, he has only got better the more he has done. Skyrim is his finest score yet IMHO (he has always done a great job with the Elder Scrolls series). Funny thing is, I was never a big fan of his KOTOR scores, not that they were bad, but they felt odd to me, and I never quite felt they worked with the Star Wars universe.”
Skyrim was one of the best things I listened to in 2011. Myself, I always like the KOTOR music – I felt it went with sort of the alternate take BioWare did on the Star Wars universe.
“Which is why the latest Narnia score is so tragic, it fails to have even one good track on it. ”
“Dawn Treader” was the weakest of the three films. I suspect it’s unfilmable – the book doesn’t translate to film due to the lack of a villain in the plot. “The Silver Chair”, with the Lady of the Green Kirtle, would make a much better movie.
“I really, really do have to start listening to Two steps from Hell, from what you have showed me so far, excellent!”
Two Steps From Hell is one of my favorite groups, and their stuff has been in half the movie trailers of the last ten years.
“I found about half of the The Old Republic soundtrack available for free (legally) here”
Actually, a chunk of those tracks are from the juke boxes in the cantinas, and not really tracks to the game. They are more for silly entertainment as you stand around in the bar. At least 8 or 9 of those on that list are juke box tracks. However they do give you some nice tracks from the game, but it looks like they kept most of them for the official soundtrack. Not sure where you could get the full version though. I ended up getting it with the Collector’s edition of the game.
“…sort of the alternate take BioWare did on the Star Wars universe.”
Yes, in retrospect, the whole Knights of the Old Republic series could be looked at as an alternative take on the Star Wars mythos, even though technically it is set in the years prior to the films, rather than be a remake.
If you had your way, would you have preferred it to be an alternative take on the SW universe, or as it is, a part of the same canon?
“Dawn Treader was the weakest of the three films.”
Totally agree, but I did really enjoy the end scenes where they reached the edge of the world.
“I suspect it’s unfilmable”
In alot of ways yes. The book was more episodic, and that is not easy to translate into a film, it also, as you said, does not contain a villian. Fortunetly for the film saga, it made enough money to warrant a sequel. I have read that the producers, rather than continue the present storyline (which would lead next to “The Silver Chair”), have decided to go with the prequel, The Magician’s nephew. That should be a pretty interesting film, what with the creation of Narnia and all, provided they do it right of course. As much as I enjoy the films, I have always felt their creators never truly knew how to do them, or rather, how to capture the essence of the books as written by Lewis. The films more often than not, come of as a Lord of the Rings Jr. rather than Lewis’ Narnia. At least that is how I felt.
I would like to see the Silver Chair, but looks like we will have to wait a while before they get around to it.
“stuff has been in half the movie trailers of the last ten years.”
Really?! Or was that more of a joke? I have a fondness for movie trailer music, maybe some of the tracks I liked were actually from that group and I never knew it. Do your remember any specific trailers that used their music?
And on a side note…
Holy crap! If there was even one doubt left in me as to whether or not I was going to start listening to Two Steps from Hell, this one just blew it away:
Wow, that was a good song!!! I’m actually kind of surprised you never used it, then again I don’t know if it would fit either the Demonsouled or Ghost universe. Maybe I’m wrong?
Actually, I don’t think I’d ever heard that one. Good song, though!