Composer Bear McCreary, best known for his work on television shows like Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., announced that his full soundtrack for Sony Santa Monica’s new God of War is now available on Spotify. You can listen to the entire 21-song album on your PS4 using PlayStation Music, or anywhere with a Spotify Premium subscription.
When announcing the release of the God of War soundtrack, McCreary revealed some background on the composition and production of the album. His favorite selection from the soundtrack that means the most to him is “Memories of Mother,” a song with a storied history that goes back to early in the game’s development.
When McCreary was just beginning the collaboration with Cory Barlog, it was determined that the new God of War would require all new music that did not revisit the scores present in the original games. Just as Kratos ventures forth into a new land and evolves, the music of the series had to change too.
“I took my memories of that classic God of War soundtrack – the deep choirs, pounding drums, and shrieking brass – and reinvented them for a Norse age. I wrote new themes, and introduced to the music exotic instrumentation and languages from various Northern European folk traditions,” McCreary said.
“Memories of Mother” was one of those early compositions, originally written for Kratos. Inspired by the emotional themes of the story, McCreary reinvented “the musical language of this character, to compose an unexpectedly beautiful theme for Kratos.” This was all about four years ago, and his sketches for all of the music in the game revolved around this piece of music.
Once the game moved into full production, this theme was determined to be too sad and lyrical. It simply didn’t represent Kratos they way they wanted it to, so it was shelved and they worked on a new track (the E3 2016 reveal theme). Soon after, McCreary was looking for themes to represent Atreus’s mother, and happened upon the shelved track from early development. “The Mother Theme was then woven into dozens of scenes, and is now featured in the score as much as, if not more than, Kratos’ main theme.”
McCreary left one final message for fans as they reconnect with Kratos. “‘Memories of Mother’ was the melody I first imagined years ago, when I was tasked with finding a new sound for the franchise. I hope that fans will be deeply moved by it as they play through this epic adventure on 20th April.”
The God of War soundtrack is now available on Spotify. God of War releases April 20 exclusively on PS4. You can get 10% off Spotify Premium by subscribing through your PS4.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
