Doom (Original Game Soundtrack)

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Album artwork.

An official soundtrack publication for Doom (2016), entitled Doom (Original Game Soundtrack), was released by Bethesda on September 28, 2016. It features 31 tracks with a total play time of 128 minutes, and consists of three distinct chapters and a final track. Aside from arrangements of the original in-game music as it was composed by Mick Gordon, one track is remixed by Doom's audio designer Chad Mossholder, and one new track composed by Chris Hite, Doom's audio director. Additional sound design was created by Richard Devine.

The soundtrack is primarily composed of digitally synthesized progressive metal processed extensively with analog effects, variously described as falling within the sub-genres of post-industrial, dark synth-rock,[1] glitch music[2], and djent.[3] Dark ambience punctuates the rock, used in particular as backing to the narration sequences. The soundtrack is rife with allusions to the previous games of the Doom series, including material adapted from Bobby Prince's original Doom and Doom II soundtracks, and the main theme from Doom 3.

Tracks[edit]

Track number Name Run time Notes
1 I. DOGMA 0:44 First Doom Slayer's Testament.
2 Rip & Tear 4:17
3 At DOOM's Gate 1:10 An extended arrangement of the original "At Doom's Gate".
4 Rust, Dust & Guts 7:41 Contains arranged themes from "The Imp's song"
5 II. DEMIGOD 0:50 Second Doom Slayer's Testament.
6 Hellwalker 5:05 Contains arranged themes from "Sign of Evil" and "DOOM (Doom 2)". The main riff is played using synthesized chainsaw sounds.
7 Authorization; Olivia Pierce 2:23 A full rendition of "Suspense". Contains an Easter egg in its spectrogram showing the number 36. When the audio is transposed up by 36 semitones, Olivia can be heard to say her final line of dialogue from the Foundry, "You could not have saved them anyway."[4]
8 Flesh & Metal 7:02
9 Impure Spectrum 1:44
10 Ties That Bind 2:06 Uses the ambient intro from "The Imp's Song".
11 BFG Division 8:26 Contains a short arrangement of "Waltz of the Demons" and a brief sample of the classic BFG at the very end. Seems to have been based on Seizure of Power by Marilyn Manson for the Resident Evil film score.[citation needed]
12 Residual 1:56
13 Argent Energy 2:34
14 Harbinger 7:11 Contains themes derived from the "Doom 3 Theme" and "E3M1 - Untitled".
15 Biowaves 2:16
16 Olivia's DOOM (Chad Mossholder Remix) 4:40 Features an unused alternate version of Olivia's announcement before unleashing the Hell Wave. Credited to Chad Mossholder.
17 Transistor Fist 6:09 Contains a short arrangement of "Kitchen Ace (And Taking Names)" at 1:33.
18 Dr. Samuel Hayden 4:10
19 Cyberdemon 6:18 Contains Easter eggs in its spectrogram, including the Number of the Beast, Satanic pentagrams, and the Doom guy's face right at the end.
20 Incantation 3:36
21 III. DAKHMA 2:16 Third Doom Slayer's Testament. The first segment contains a drone-like ambience similar to "They're Going To Get You". The ending features a choral arrangement of "Sign of Evil".
22 Damnation 6:44
23 The Stench 2:50
24 UAC Report File; SHTO36U3 3:04 An early version of this song as used during the E3 demo, unofficially named "Welcome to Hell" at the time.
25 Death & Exhale 3:49
26 SkullHacker 7:15 Contains a Easter egg in its spectrogram of John Romero's head.
27 Lazarus Waves 3:39
28 VEGA Core 8:03 Contains renditions of "E3M1 - Untitled" at 1:10 and "Into Sandy's City" at 7:08.
29 6-idkill.vega.cih 1:38 Credited as a new track made with Chris Hite.
30 Mastermind 6:37 Contains several themes reprised from other tracks, including "Rust, Dust & Guts", "Flesh & Metal", "BFG Division" and "VEGA Core". The closing note is the opening note of "Facing the Spider" played backwards.
31 IV. DOOM 1:47 Final Doom Slayer's Testament. Contains a hidden sample saying, "Jesus loves you", probably as a parody of backmasking controversies.

The Testaments[edit]

The interludes between each chapter and the final track feature narrations by the Lord of Hell of excerpts from the Doom Slayer's Testament. The tracks are an homage to ’70s and ’80s concept albums that tell the story of a protagonist.[5] Additionally, all of the titles begin with the letter "D".

Chapter Description
I. DOGMA Describes the origin of the Doom Slayer.
II. DEMIGOD Describes the Doom Slayer's singular qualities as a champion against Hell.
III. DAKHMA States the ageless nature of the Doom Slayer and his ever-growing power.
IV. DOOM Describes the imprisonment of the Doom Slayer in the Kadingir Sanctum.

Design[edit]

Composer Mick Gordon described the design process of the soundtrack as beginning with "discarding the name 'DOOM'" in order to first define and focus on the elements that underlay its themes of Mars, Hell and demons, futuristic science fiction, and isolation in an alien environment. He stated that it was important to put the legacy of Doom on a pedestal, leading to the numerous allusions to the original soundtracks in his work, but without a "laser focus" that would hamper the development of a unique identity.[6]

While the synths were initially set up to avoid a heavy metal feel, fearing it would be perceived as "too corny," feedback in the wake of the QuakeCon 2015 presentation led Mick to layer in more guitars for a heavier sound, as fans believed this was necessary to reflect the game's roots.

As a fan of listenable '90s game soundtracks, Gordon was motivated to bring the music "front and center," using it as reward and motivation, with the tempo of music matched closely to gameplay footage sent to him by id Software during development. A smooth, flowing dynamic soundtrack was created to support the flow of the gameplay. Gordon also states that the work of Sonic Mayhem on the Quake II soundtrack was a strong influence on his work, and remains one of his favorite game soundtracks.[7]

As part of his unique process for creation of the soundtrack, Mick engineered a device he refers to as a "DOOM instrument," consisting of pure sine wave inputs directed into four separate, different chains of sound processing elements, including distortion pedals, bit crushers, fuzz boxes, analog phasers, tape echo, spring reverb, and a feedback loop along with several compressors and a pair of audio chain splitters, which were then mixed together. The design of this instrument was directly influenced by the plot of the game, as Mick wished to musically reflect the corrupting influence of Hell by dynamically imparting impurities onto the generated sounds in the way he envisioned Argent energy to work.[8]

Physical releases[edit]

Laced Records announced four different editions on physical formats on April 18, 2018, scheduled for release in third quarter 2018:[9]

  • Deluxe double CD
  • Deluxe double vinyl
  • Special edition X4 vinyl boxset
  • Special limited edition X4 vinyl boxset with slipmat and double CD bundle

Vinyl gallery[edit]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Machkovech, Sam (28 September 2016). "Rip and tear your eardrums with Doom 2016’s soundtrack, finally loosed from the game." Ars Technica. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  2. https://www.gearslutz.com/board/q-richard-devine/1101668-doom-2016-e3m1-nda.html
  3. Mike (24 May 2016). "The DOOM Soundtrack Djents." The Circle Pit. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  4. Gordon, Mick (7 February 2019). "Big-ups to @nick_w94, who found the final @DOOM soundtrack easter egg a little over 2 years after release. Rock on dude!🤘😼🤘." Twitter. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  5. https://bethesda.net/en/article/5rRsrlS6rKEMgiwKeYG8kE/inside-the-doom-score-mick-gordon-interview
  6. Noclip (13 December 2016). "DOOM Resurrected Part 2 - Designing a First Impression (DOOM Documentary)." YouTube. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  7. Noclip (24 December 2016). "Mick Gordon on Composing DOOM's Soundtrack - Extended Interview." YouTube. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  8. GDC (22 August 2017). "DOOM: Behind the Music." YouTube. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  9. Crecente, Brian (18 April 2018). "‘Doom’ Soundtrack Goes Vinyl This Summer." Variety. Retrieved 21 April 2018.