Year: 2007
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Gerard Marino; Mike Reagan; Ron Fish; Cris Velasco
Number of tracks: 31

★★★★★

Triumphant entrance

Two years after the God of War-series celebrated its extremely dramatic debut, which culminated in the coronation of protagonist Kratos as the new god of war, God of War II was released in 2007 and not only showed visually where the journey was heading: Bigger, more epic, more brutal was the motto. And what could be more blatant than not just taking on a deity from the Greek pantheon, but replacing them directly? That's right, waging war on the entire clan of gods!

The fact that this would also be reflected in the soundscape is as expected as it is welcome. After all, I had criticized the predecessor for lacking the bombast characteristic of the series. Admittedly, the first part of a series is difficult to speak of familiar standards, but nevertheless, my retrospective view is biased by what God of War stands for today - and that is epic.

God of War (2005)

God of War II (2007)

So it's all the more pleasing that the army of composers who were brought together for the second part were able to pull some nice things out of their brains to satisfy my lesser instincts. Above all Cris Velasco, whose signature we already know from Dark Messiah of Might and Magic , hovers over the score. Let's take the fantastic "The Isle of Creation" as an example: Powerful drums, accompanied by violins and trumpets and finally complimented by chorales, herald an epic. We see the scenery unfolding before our mind's eye while the music gets us going. Soon there will be divine graves filling, soon there will be epic action. The track is emblematic of what characterizes this score: greatness.

This starts with the main theme "God of War II", which thunders towards us like a Wagnerian opera with a wall of sound and leaves us awestruck, but it doesn't stop there. The theme for anti-hero Kratos also begins to slowly take shape, always accompanied by the surging lamentations of his enemies. It is exciting to see how the composers seem to be becoming increasingly sure of where the musical journey should go, namely towards more grand orchestration and away from more moderate tones, as we know them from Prince of Persia , for example.

With its archaic hammer blows on the anvil, "The Way of the Gods" literally strikes a similar chord to the main theme, even if I like "The Way of the Gods" a little better here. "Battle for the Skies", on the other hand, is chaotic and uncoordinated, like a fight in free fall. "The Summit of Sacrifice" and "An Audience with Cronos" are more reminiscent of 'classic' video game drama such as World of Warcraft or Dragon Age: Origins, without breaking out of the style of the score.

Despite the large number of contributors, the OST is once again pleasantly coherent: tracks such as the very tribal-like "Typhon Mountain" or quieter pieces such as "The Bathhouse" seem more inspired than in the first God of War. In general, the two years of production in the music department were successfully used to give the score the necessary polish that I felt was missing before. Only the final tracks such as the techno mash-up "Colossus Remix" by Junkie XL, the death metal orgy "Blood of Destiny" by Shadow Falls and the hip-hop intermezzo "God-Like" by George 'TraGiC' Doman fall completely out of line and, in my opinion, were not needed - but well, it doesn't hurt anyone.

And that's how I'd like to end this comparatively short review, which leaves me with the feeling that I've actually said too little. However, due to its uniformity, the OST is good throughout, but also difficult to differentiate. At the end, you get the feeling that you've just run a marathon to Athens and your blood has to cool down to normal temperature again. I therefore recommend - as I always do - simply listening to it. And if you don't believe me, you can also take another look at this review from tvtropes.org , which shares my opinion. Ha!

Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	God of War II	Gerard Marino	4
02	The Glory of Sparta	Mike Reagan	4
03	The Way of the Gods	Gerard Marino	5
04	Colossus of Rhodes	Gerard Marino	4
05	The Bathhouse	Mike Reagan	3
06	Death of Kratos	Gerard Marino	3
07	The End Begins	Gerard Marino	4
08	Typhon Mountain	Mike Reagan	4
09	Waking the Sleeping Giant	Cris Velasco	4
10	Battle for the Skies	Mike Reagan	4
11	Exploring the Isle	Gerard Marino	3
12	The Isle of Creation	Cris Velasco	5
13	The Summit of Sacrifice	Ron Fish	4
14	An Audience with Cronos	Ron Fish	2
15	The Barbarian King Returns	Cris Velasco	3
16	Bog of Lost Souls	Ron Fish	2
17	Battle in the Bog	Mike Reagan	4
18	Crossing the Lowlands	Gerard Marino	4
19	Atlas	Ron Fish	4
20	Palace of the Fates	Ron Fish	3
21	Phoenix Rising	Cris Velasco	4
22	Ashen Spire	Gerard Marino	3
23	Athena	Mike Reagan	3
24	The Battle for Olympus	Gerard Marino	3
25	Colossus Remix	Junkie XL	4
26	Blood of Destiny	Shadows Fall	3
27	God-Like	George 'TraGiC' Doman	3
28	Atlas Remembers [Bonus]	Gerard Marino	4
29	Kratos and Atropos [Bonus]	Ron Fish	4
30	Pursuing Destiny [Bonus]	Cris Velasco	4
31	Theme of Fates [Bonus]	Gerard Marino	4