Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Soundtrack Coming February 7th
Were you as surprised as we were by how great the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo was? Perhaps while you were slashing away at wolves and throwing fireballs at bears, your attention was grabbed by the game’s music. If so, you’ll be happy to know the release of the official soundtrack is imminent.
On February 7th (the same release day as the game itself), you can grab the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Original Soundtrack in physical or digital format. The “dark fantasy score” is composed by Grant Kirkhope (GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Viva Pinata) and performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Head over to Amazon to listen to sample clips. There’s also a full interview below with Kirkhope on the game’s music and sound. If you don’t have a full seven minutes free to watch it, at least check out the last twenty seconds. It’s practically guaranteed to make you crack a smile.
Source: Top Dollar PR
Buy the Soundtrack: Amazon
Tags: 38 Studios, Big Huge Games, EA, Grant Kirkhope, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, PC, ps3, soundtrack, Xbox 360
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 1:06 am and is filed under Music, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 7th, 2012 at 12:17 am
David Sydiongco says:To be honest, I’m a little underwhelmed by what I’ve heard so far from the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning’s soundtrack.
Similar to the game’s art style, it comes off as generic high-fantasy material that’s been recycled through the game scene for years now. In the video, composer Grant Kirkhope, at one point, displays the large orchestra he utilized for the game’s score. Yet, this doesn’t really show us anything different or unique about the soundtrack. Almost every fantasy game released these days, whether it be a blockbuster backed by a major publisher or a bargain bin throwaway, features this same set of elements it its music: rising horns, epic strings, and distant chants. So far, Reckoning’s soundtrack sounds almost indistinguishable from any other generic fantasy video game.
Now the obvious, and arguably unavoidable, comparison to make here is Skyrim’s soundtrack. What I believe sets Skyrim’s score apartment from the rest of generic videogame fantasy music is the Viking/Nordic theme that persists throughout. The main theme, for example, is thick and heavy with the chants of a charging horde of burly men. In reality, they composed the piece using a large choir of singers chanting, and then digitally multiplied their numbers to enhance the effect. It also helps that Bethseda created its own language that is featured in the song.
Still, I’ll reserved judgment on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and its soundtrack, until its final release.
And yeah, that last 20 seconds easily made that video worth it.